Unexpected Destiny
by jdho2
Summary: Steph just wanted to have a fun night out at a club, but when she offered to help an undercover superhero, she set her life on a path she never could have imagined it would take. Rated: M for language and eventual smut.
1. We Need to Talk

**A Few Important Starting Notes**

 **This is NOT a Soulmate AU:** If you read it, you'll notice a good chunk of the set-up in this first chapter WAS taken from a chapter in my story Plum Soulmates titled "We Need to Talk". I wanted to spring from that, but decided to remove the soulmate part, as I felt it would give me better character development and a better opportunity to send the plot in the direction I wanted.

 **Regarding Avengers: Age of Ultron (film):** It was a fun, enjoyable movie that I liked overall, but there were certain plot elements, relationships, etc., that I was not a fan of. This movie will be a mixture of "fix-it" and "ignore-it" for those elements as I see fit… writing should have its perks, right? You will see things from the movie pop up, and there may be spoilers, but you shouldn't have to have seen the movie to understand this story, and I'm going to do my best to introduce those elements in a seamless manner so that they won't be _obviously_ spoilery. If you have a question, just ask and I will answer via PM, but if you ask, I WILL answer.

 **Regarding Marvel's Agents of Shield (TV show):** Again, you won't need to see this to read this story, however, the finale's been available for free online for over a month now, so I'm not really going to tiptoe around much on this one. Anything that might be a spoiler will just be blended into the story, but they will be there, as one particular item/theme from the second season that is a large plot point for this fic. Alright, I think that's all we need to cover for now, so without further ado...

 **Chapter 1 - We Need to Talk**

 _ **Steve's POV**_

Since the events caused by Ultron, things had been very different for the Avengers team. We'd moved to a new facility in Upstate New York, that we were working hard to get running full speed. Bruce was still off somewhere, location unknown, trying to once again deal with the reality of the creature that lived inside of him. Thor was similarly out of touch, though in his case he feared for larger universal danger, and had gone off in investigation of that. He checked in occasionally, but pressed us to allow him this time as what he was doing was of grave importance.

Clint had gone back to stay with his sister, Laura, at the Barton family farm, finish making his repairs on the place, and make sure Laura was safe and cared for leading up to the birth of his next nephew and immediately after. I was confident though, because Natasha was confident, that he'd come back to the team in a few more weeks time to help us train the new team members and rejoin the team himself. He liked to think he was retired, but I was certain he was just on leave.

Tony, however, was retired. And I couldn't see that changing anytime soon. By the end of everything, we'd managed to bury some of the hard feelings between us, but Tony had created a monster that had damn near destroyed the world. Sure, part of the blame could be placed on the rest of us for not realizing and preventing it, but Tony bore the brunt of the blame. Which meant that he had a lot to deal with emotionally, and I was grateful he had Pepper to help him through that. But it also meant that he was dealing with the largest piece of the public fallout.

As a team, the Avengers were being questioned in the public eye now more than ever. True to the type of man becoming Iron Man had turned him into, Tony was sacrificing himself for the good of the team. Though he liked to joke about it not even being the worst scandal he'd put his company through, I knew this time was different. The level of guilt he felt was only compounded each day by reporters and the public screaming at him for the things he'd done. In time, he would be okay again, but it would take time. If we needed him, I knew he had at least one suit available to come help out, but otherwise he had sent Rhodey to us.

With Tony's help, Rhodey had been able to ditch the US government gig he had, and transition back from being Iron Patriot to being War Machine once more. It was nice to still have someone in the sky with heavy firepower, and who was connected to the base's AI through more than just an earpiece. And he was a nice guy that I enjoyed getting to know. He'd always complained that his few Iron Patriot stories didn't measure up to the Avengers stories and, well, it seemed he was going to be getting some Avengers stories of his own.

Our AI, of course, was no longer JARVIS now that JARVIS was the basis of Vision. We had tried still using JARVIS at the base at first, and it was just too much. Instead, Tony had given us what he called his most advanced system- one he swore wasn't sentient any more than JARVIS had been. She was the same AI that Tony had used in our final battle, and her name was FRIDAY. I'd been a little uncomfortable with integrating her after everything that had happened with Ultron, but Natasha, Rhodey, and Maria Hill had convinced me to install it as we didn't have the manpower to make the facility secure without it.

Maria Hill had, surprisingly, stuck with Stark Industries for the time being. Though she, and I felt sure Pepper, were feeding us support staff as quickly as I'm sure they thought they could without drawing unwanted attention. Sharon Carter had shown up one day, offering to join on and leave her post at the CIA, but I'd been too uncomfortable with the idea of having someone who'd so easily lied to me on base. Thankfully, Natasha had handled that for me so delicately that Carter remained a valuable resource for us within the CIA.

Sam had dropped by when the base first opened to make sure that we were okay for the time being. In particular, he and I had sat down and had several long conversations that straddled the line between being conversations between friends and being counseling sessions. There were things Ultron had said to me, about being unable to live without a war that mixed in with the thoughts Wanda had put in my head and had tangled me up emotionally and mentally to unhealthy levels. Over the course of the weekend that Sam had visited, he'd helped me begin to understand and feel comfortable in my own skin again. I had a ways to go, but it was a start.

Although Sam was clearly willing to stay and help me cope, I could tell he was itching to get on the road again and investigate our "missing person" case. He wouldn't say anything about it, but I could tell it was because he didn't want to get my hopes up. So I'd put on a good front and reassured him that I was fine and he could go. My efforts were rewarded just two weeks later when Sam walked in the front door of the base knowing exactly where Bucky was. Together with a friend, we were able to get Bucky back.

At the time, Bucky had insisted on being called James. He remembered some of our childhood and growing up before the War, some of the War itself, and, unfortunately, almost all of his time under HYDRA's control as "The Asset". When I told him of the moniker SHIELD and others had used for him, The Winter Soldier, he actually smiled and said he liked it and once he was right in the head, that would be his field name.

Wanda, Pietro, and Vision had largely kept to themselves when we first arrived. Vision was worried that we would be unable to trust him or want him around because of his association with Ultron. The twins, Wanda and Pietro, used quite the same excuse once both were recovered from their first fight with the Avengers. In the end each of us who remained had to have numerous conversations with them in which we reassured them that they had our trust because they had helped us in the long run. The spots on the team were theirs if they were willing.

The turning point had really been when I'd taken a leap of faith and allowed Wanda to use her powers for good on Bucky. She'd come to me, nervous, just two days after his arrival and told me that she could help. She even had Dr. Cho on the phone as a reference. When I'd quickly dismissed Dr. Cho's presence, I could see Wanda deflate. As she gathered herself to leave, I'd stopped her and told her, once again, that I trusted her. If she thought she could help Bucky, then by all means, she should try. The next day, he'd called me "Punk" and asked us all to call him Bucky. It was the first truly good day I'd had in a very long time.

After that, our team training sessions and had become even more lively. Something in that moment had made us all closer, and we were beginning to act as a team once more. Bucky, true to form, had even found himself a gal- Natasha. I was wary at first, but it seemed that they fit together frighteningly well. Both had a sense of debt to be paid to society, or "red in the ledger" as Natasha referred to it, that drove them in their mission as Avengers. To me it seemed that both had been wronged and didn't owe anything to the world, but if they wanted to fight, I was happy to have them on my team. Especially because the rest of the team wasn't ready yet for the more subtle cases.

Even before all of SHIELD's data was dumped on the internet by Natasha and I, I didn't get a lot of undercover missions. Once people realized in the aftermath of the Battle of New York that I, Steve Rogers, was alive rather than someone who was just taking up the name "Captain America", people went a little crazy. It was hard to go anywhere without getting recognized, let alone going _undercover._

Undercover was pretty much out of the question.

Still, desperate times called for desperate measures. Bucky was good in the field, solid, but he had a metal arm, so he was difficult to hide in plain sight. And Natasha had a few videos of her go viral during the fight with Ultron. We all did, but I wore a cowl over my face, and Natasha was just out there as herself for the world to see. That meant that Natasha's face was still very fresh in everyone's mind, and there was really no way she'd be able to go unrecognized.

With Natasha in charge of disguises for this mission, my hair had been temporarily (or so she assured me) dyed brown and I was wearing a large pair of glasses. She insisted that it was enough of a disguise that I wouldn't be recognized. Add together the facts that I was in a club, which people didn't expect of Captain America, and I was in Trenton, NJ, where I'd never been before, and I should have been golden.

For the first hour, with me moving around constantly, the cover had held. Then I'd started to feel eyes on me, and began to discreetly scan the room trying to figure out what had caused someone to discover my identity and who that person was. Finally, I saw her. A beautiful woman across the way wearing a slinky black dress and heels. As I started to walk toward her, I realized that she didn't actually recognize me, she was just watching me. She was interested in me.

"Hey, Steve, that's a hell of a dame making eyes at you," Bucky spoke through my earpiece.

"Too bad we don't have time for you to cut loose a little," Natasha added. "She looks nice."

I was unable to keep myself from moving toward the woman until I was just a few steps away from her- then I finally paused. As beautiful as she was, if she really didn't recognize me, then I needed to get back to the mission and move on. So I stopped and turned back around, intending to do just that. Yet, I couldn't stop myself from just one more look in her direction, and as soon as her eyes met mine, well, _that_ was the moment she recognized me.

"Oh no," I muttered.

It was hilariously obvious, really. Her eyes went comically wide, her mouth opened in a little 'o' and and she started looking around as though she was trying to find the threat that would have brought Captain America to this club. Cursing under my breath at my own inability to leave her alone which caused the issue, I moved forward. Fast. She opened her mouth to say something, and probably blow my cover, so I did the only thing I could think to do in that moment, I covered her mouth with mine.

After a couple seconds of shock, she seemed to decide to just go with it, melting into the kiss and opening her mouth again under mine. My tongue took advantage of the opportunity, even as I could hear teasing and chatter among my only backup for the night, Natasha and Bucky. The kiss dragged on, and in the back of my mind, I registered the teasing turning into chastising by Natasha who was telling me not to get distracted by a pretty face.

Reluctantly, I pulled back, knowing I needed to get back to the business at hand. Still there was something in me that couldn't resist pulling her more firmly into my body as I trailed my mouth sideways so it would look like I was just continuing the kiss over to her ear.

Once my mouth was pressed up against her ear, I whispered to her urgently, "we need to talk."

I tried to prepare for almost any reaction she had, but I wasn't exactly prepared for her to drag me onto the dance floor, then slide a leg between mine and pull me closer into her. She nodded shakily a few seconds later and said, "so talk."

Using the music for cover, I held her close and whispered in her ear, "I'm in the middle of a mission, and I need you to not announce who I am."

She put her mouth against my ear this time to make sure she wasn't overheard, and it made a shiver run through my body as she responded. "Do you always kiss random women to keep your cover?"

I managed to school my reaction, but I heard Natasha chuckling over my earpiece, and I knew if I didn't say it, Natasha would, somehow, someday bring it up. "Well, I did kiss my partner once to keep people from recognizing us, but that was pretty awful. Also, truth be told, I'm almost never undercover."

She smiled at me, laughter in her eyes, and stretched back up to say, "my name is Steph. I don't know what you're doing, but I'm a part-time bounty hunter, part-time security expert. I'm armed, I know how to fight, and I'll help you in any way I can. I run distractions, or play bait, for my team all the time, so if you need to get someone outside without causing a scene, I can help. If you need backup, I _will_ help."

In my ear, Natasha said, "you gotta take her up on that, Cap. We'll keep her safe."

Before I could say anything else, Steph said, "or if you need me to get out of your way, name's Stephanie Plum. If you're ever interested in saying hi when you're not on a mission, come to Rangeman Trenton, and you'll find me."

I sighed, "we could use your help if you're sure you're willing. There's a man we need to talk to. His name is Gus Chianni-"

"Cop. I vaguely know him." That gave me a moment of pause, and Steph continued, rolling her eyes, "did you not hear me say I'm a bounty hunter? I know _all_ the cops. Plus he was a drinking buddy of my ex. He didn't do anything other than tell me to 'be careful' when a gang banger he was arresting on my tip threatened me. I never thought he was dirty, but after that, I never really liked him either. He finds me… amusing. You need to talk to him, I can get him out the door with me, alone. Just give me five minutes."

"I knew one day, your saint act would come back to help us ten fold, Steve," Natasha said. "I think this woman's an angel."

"If you know him, why help us?" I couldn't help but asking Steph.

"Yes, I know him, but we're not friends." She replied. Then she looked me steadily in the eyes and asked, "do you have a good reason for needing to talk to him?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to steamroll him without cause?"

"We already have plenty of cause, but no, I'm not."

"Okay, then. I trust you."

Pulling Steph into me again, I gave her a thorough kiss, and said, "I need you to be careful. He may be a cop, but he is not a good guy."

"I will. My car is parked around the block, on Quinn St. It's the biggest heap of junk on the street, assuming no one has stolen it. I'm going to tell him you've been hassling me, and get him to walk me out to the car."

I paused to allow Natasha and Bucky each to confirm that the plan worked for them, then said, "that is perfect, thanks."

"Okay, now. I'm assuming you can take a hit, so apologies in advance, but I'm going to need you to lay one on me and grab my ass or something while you do."

I blinked at her for a few seconds then did as she asked. When my hands wandered, as she'd instructed, she struggled away then hauled off and smacked me. She rushed away, and I could hear both Natasha and Bucky hooting with laughter in my earpiece. Shaking it off, I made myself look suitably rebuked then made a beeline for the restroom. Along the way, I made eye contact with Bucky, who was hidden among the shadows on the perimeter of the club. He gave me a nod to say he had Steph's back.

Instead of going into the restroom, I continued straight out the back door. I was utterly unsurprised to find Natasha there waiting for me already. She took in the red mark on my cheek and said, "she's got decent delivery for a civilian." I grunted in agreement, and Natasha just laughed some before saying, "don't worry, I doubt she'd do it again or in any other circumstance."

"Well, we're on a mission, Natasha," I replied. "So I doubt she'll ever get the chance again."

"She's pretty, and she's interested, Steve. Just because you met on a mission doesn't mean you can't get her number and give her a call sometime."

I made a noncommittal noise, then assessed the cars on the street to pick out the one that looked the worst. If I was correct, the woman wasn't kidding. There was one car on the street that stood out among the rest for all the wrong reasons. It was a Jeep that looked like it had seen better days. The doors were not all painted the same color, nor did they match the body of the car. On closer inspection, there were actual bullet holes along the back panel.

Together we walked back a few cars and waited. Five minutes on the nose after she'd stormed away from me, if my internal clock was correct, I could hear Steph's voice thanking Chianni for walking her out. He stopped just past us and said, "okay, Steph. There's your car. No creepy stalker, are you happy now? Can I get back to having a good time instead of playing escort to idiots who don't know to dress appropriately if they don't want the attention? I mean, honestly, it's no wonder Morelli left you."

There was a frown on my face as I slid out from the shadows with Natasha. Seeing Bucky coming up behind us as well, I started to slide over to Chianni's side as Steph stopped, crossed her arms across her chest, and leveled Chianni with a hard glare. When he finally looked at her again and caught her expression, he blinked in shock. "What did you do?" Steph asked angrily.

Chianni took a step back and bumped into Bucky. With a start, he started to turn, but stopped halfway through the motion when he caught sight of me. I was using my most intimidating stance and what I thought of as my Captain America face. He gulped and looked back at Steph who hadn't moved an inch. "You bitch! There's no warrant for my arrest, I would know. And I sure as hell haven't skipped bail. You have no right!"

"All I did was ask you to accompany me outside, and I have every right to do favors for anyone I want. Especially people who save the world." She nodded in my direction even as she added, "I don't think he likes that nickname for me, or some of the things you said before that by the way. Might be something you want to keep in mind."

"I'm not a fan either," Natasha said to Chianni from his other side, making the man realize he was boxed in.

Apparently, he figured then that his best bet for freedom was to go through Steph because he tried to run. Before I could move to help her, she shifted to the side, slid under his arm, and used his momentum to execute an impressive hip throw. He looked more than a little dazed as he blinked up at us.

"Alright, Steve," Bucky addressed me, even as he slid forward and injected Chianni with the sedative we'd prepared to quickly knock him out. "If that's the way he's going to be, let's take him in."

I nodded my head, but had the most difficult time leaving the woman standing in front of me. Noticing her shivering a little, I took my jacket off and slid it over her shoulders, buttoning it up a little ways from the bottom so it would stay on her smaller frame. She brought her hands up inside of it without putting them through the sleeves and grabbed onto the collar. "I'm just going home, I'll be fine. You don't have to-"

I cut her off saying, "don't worry about it. It looks better on you, and if I decide I need it back, I know where to find you."

She went a little bug eyed as she nodded her head, and I could feel Natasha and Bucky move away with Chianni to give me a couple minutes of privacy. Reaching up, I tucked one of her curls behind her ear that had come loose when she'd tackled Chianni. She licked her lips and said, "that'd be nice. Uh, if you need any more information on anyone else in Trenton, let me know. I'm happy to help."

I nodded my head, then indicated toward the bullet holes in her car, "you alright?"

"Oh, yeah. My last car blew up, so I just got this one. Paid two hundred bucks for it, and those bullet holes came with it. Truth be told, it's got kind of a musty smell, so I like to think of them as constant ventilation."

I wasn't really sure what to say to that, so I just nodded my head. Indicating behind me in the way Bucky and Natasha had gone, I said, "well, I guess I'd better go."

Steph smiled at me and said, "probably. Good luck with, whatever," gesturing vaguely in that same direction.

I started to walk away then turned back and called out to her before she climbed in her car, unsure of where she'd pulled her keys from, "hey, Steph? This is kind of ugly business. Just… be careful for a few days, okay?"

"Sure thing, Captain."

"Steve," I said with a smile. She nodded almost shyly at me then climbed into her car. I listened as she took a few tries to get it started, then waited, hands on my hips, as she pulled out of her spot, waving at me in the mirror.

"Hey, Lover Boy," Natasha called out over the ear piece. "I promise to find her phone number for you if you get your ass over here so we can head back to headquarters. We still have a bit of a drive ahead of us."

I took a minute longer just to stare at where Steph had been, then turned around and jogged the couple of blocks to where we'd left our SUV.

"I like her," Bucky said when I climbed into the back seat next to our prisoner.

"I just don't understand why she would help us like that," I replied.

"Well, sounds to me like she's not much of a fan of our visitor here," Natasha said calmly. "And I can't say I blame her for that even with just the brief interaction we witnessed before she put him on his ass. Then, you know, there's the fact that you're Captain America, you look trustworthy, oh yeah, and she seemed to think you're a good kisser, and there you go."

"Told you I didn't need any practice," I said to Natasha with a laugh.

As Bucky drove us out of Trenton, I was already trying to think of ways that I could get back in touch with Ms Stephanie Plum once again.


	2. Code Bomber

**Chapter 2 - Code Bomber**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

I woke up in the morning still tired because I'd been out late, but not hungover. I'd gone out the night before with the intention of partying and having some fun, but then things had taken a decidedly different turn.

Or had they? Maybe it had been a dream. After all, the odds of me actually meeting Captain America, especially in a club in Trenton, had to be pretty much non-existent. Cracking my eyes slowly open, I caught sight of the leather jacket I'd thrown over the arm of the chair in front of me and allowed myself a girlish squeal.

Closing my eyes, I rolled back into my thinking position and let my mind wander once more. I'd kissed Captain America last night, and it was hot. Of course, I'd also ground my body against him "to protect his cover," so it was entirely possible that I'd ruined any chances I had with him.

It was completely likely that he wasn't interested in women who molested him just a little bit in clubs. In fact, it was probably true that wasn't his type of woman. And oh crap, I'd also made him grab my ass then smacked him for doing so.

Well, that was a shit first impression, Steph. I groaned a little then stilled when I heard rustling in my kitchen.

"Ranger?" I called out.

"You okay in there, Babe?" he responded.

I let out a small sigh of relief before scrambling out of bed and into some clothes. Ranger and I had slept together a number of times, but not in a couple years. When I'd first broken things off with Morelli for good, I'd figured Ranger was going to make a move. Instead, he'd shown up in my apartment one day and we'd had a civil conversation. By the end of it, sex and all things romantic were permanently off the table, but our friendship was safe- possibly even stronger than ever, actually.

Trying my best to act casual, I strode out into my living room, and saw Ranger fixing up one of his gross protein drinks in my kitchen. "Hey, Ranger. What's up?" I asked.

"Do anything fun last night, Babe?"

The man knew something, but the trick was to find out what he knew and not give anything more away. With that in mind, I shrugged and said, "it'd been awhile since I'd gone out, so I went out to a club. Of course, I quickly realized how boring and lame that is to do alone, and how pushy some of the guys can get, so I decided to come back before too long. That's about it."

"Babe."

"Really, there's not much more to tell."

"And the jacket?"

"I thought you weren't doing the whole creepy, sit in my room while I sleep thing anymore."

"I didn't, I just checked to make sure you were here. After all, you have a knack for getting abducted."

He had a point, so I let it slide and shrugged. "There was one guy there who was kind of nice. I got the feeling he was from out of town though. Didn't even ask for my number, so I doubt I'll be seeing him again. He gave me his jacket because I was cold when he saw me to my car, and told me not to worry about it, so I didn't."

"It's a nice jacket, well worn. Looks vintage, even."

I tried not to panic. Surely Captain America hadn't given me his iconic leather jacket. This was just some modern one in a similar style. Trying to continue playing it cool, I just shrugged and said, "didn't ask, and he didn't say there was anything special about it."

Ranger studied me silently for a few seconds longer, but apparently was unable to detect any lies, so he just nodded. I felt fairly confident that he knew I was holding something back, even if I wasn't outright lying, so I decided to give him just a little bit more, reluctantly and hope that he would assume that was all and back off completely. "I kissed him, alright?! I just didn't want to talk about it because A) he didn't ask for my number after and B) we don't usually talk about stuff like that."

That got me another nod, this one more resolute, and Ranger asked, "what's your plan for the day?"

"I'm going to head in to the bonds' office, see if Connie has any new skips for me. Things have been kind of light lately, so hopefully she has something."

"You know your desk is waiting for you whenever you want it."

See, I was a bonds enforcement agent, or bounty hunter, which meant my cash flow was at the mercy of my cousin, Vincent Plum, and whatever bonds he was writing. There were times when he wasn't writing enough bonds for me to get by, and Ranger usually let me pick up some shifts at his security company to hold me over until the money started flowing again. If Ranger had his way, I'd quit working for Vinnie entirely and work full time at Rangeman, his security company. But I wasn't really willing to give up the freedom my current lifestyle granted me, at least for the time being.

"Thanks, Ranger. If I get bored, I may drop by, but I should be fine money-wise this month."

"Okay, well, you haven't been around in a while, so everyone's asking for you. Even if you don't need the money."

Ranger's employees, who I liked to call his Merry Men when they weren't listening, were a group of former military (many Special Forces, like Ranger) and reformed gang bangers, who were living on the up and up now. They were all trying to make the world a better place these days by working security. Usually it was for houses and businesses, but sometimes it was entire neighborhoods that they were trying to keep from getting overrun by crime.

And sometimes Ranger and some of his men (the ones I was pretty sure had been Special Forces) would go "in the wind." Lula, the bonds office filing clerk and my sometimes partner, swore that whenever that happened there was a coup somewhere in the world. I wasn't too sure about that because I didn't watch the news all that much, but I did think it was entirely plausible that Ranger and a few of his men were in the business of sometimes keeping entire third world countries secure.

I'd seen the arsenal that Rangeman had stocked away in one of the basement levels, and it certainly seemed like enough to secure a third world country. Maybe even run a drug lord out of Columbia. Generally speaking, I didn't ask, and Ranger didn't share details.

Ranger's details were dangerous, and they'd already come frighteningly close to ending me more than once, so I tried not to pry too much.

To Ranger I just said, "awwww, those softies! I miss them too. Maybe I'll drop by later today. I had a few searches I wanted to run for some personal projects, if that's alright."

Ranger went on alert, "everything alright?"

"Yeah," I said. "I just like to check in on a few people from time to time. Make sure they're still in prison. You know, Eugene Brown, and some of the others. Sometimes I still make sure some of the dead ones really are dead."

Ranger's eyes filled with understanding and he said, "if you ever need to talk…"

"What, you're going to talk to me, Batman?"

His lips twitched and he inclined his head to indicate I had a point. "Maybe not, but I know a guy."

"Oh, you know a guy who does counseling now?"

"Sometimes I help at the VA, and this guy does some PTSD counseling and seminars there. Just showed up a month or so ago, but he seems like a good guy. I'm sure he'd talk to you if you needed it."

"I'm not a veteran."

"I know, but you've seen some stuff Steph, and he seems like the type who just likes to help."

I felt my eyes water a little, Ranger was worried about me. I blinked back the tears and nodded my head, "thanks, Ranger. I'll think about it."

Ranger stepped forward and gave me a quick hug and a chaste kiss on the forehead that I knew he didn't mean anything romantic by, then nodded to the protein drink on the counter. "Drink that before you stop for doughnuts, and call if you need anything."

I groaned, "what's next, you're going to tell me to take my vitamins?"

"You don't take vitamins, Steph? I even got you the gummy ones."

"I"m not a child, I can swallow a pill, I just don't like to. Plus, those expired last year."

"I'm getting new ones then! And I just might add some fish oil or something too. I expect you to take them when they show up."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll think about it," I said with a roll of my eyes.

By the time my eyes had settled back into their normal orientation, Ranger was gone. With a sigh, I grabbed the drink and took it with me as I started getting ready for the day. I actually was trying to take better care of myself these days, and I'd even pack a gym bag and hit the Rangeman gym when I visited later.

If any of them were free, I'd let the guys take me through the paces on my take down techniques. I only wished I could tell them about my hip throw the night before. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Black Widow had been pleased by it.

With one last swipe of mascara, I was ready to go, picking up my phone. I noticed a couple dozen missed calls and sighed when I realized that meant someone probably told my mother that I had kissed a stranger in the club last night.

I threw the phone into my purse, determined to ignore it for the moment. Then I set the purse down and dragged on some boots, and by the time I had them laced up, I heard someone pounding on my door. That was odd because most people I knew just broke in. Actually, most people I didn't know broke in as well.

"This is the police, open up!" a voice called from outside.

Before I could make it to the door, it burst in toward me, and I saw a couple of cops I vaguely recognized but didn't know well storm in. Dembrowski and Dorsey, a couple of plainclothesmen I hadn't seen since back when I was chasing Morelli in my first case as a bounty hunter got up in my face after quickly clearing the apartment.

"Where is he?" Dorsey asked.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked. "I was about to open the door, you didn't have to break it down."

"Chianni," Dembrowski spat out. "What'd you do with him?"

"Chianni? Gus Chianni? I didn't do anything with him. Some guy was giving me a hard time at the club last night, Orlando's, and I asked Chianni to walk me to my car to make sure he didn't follow me."

Dorsey snorted, and I added, "yeah, he didn't want to, but he's a cop, right, so he did anyway. He was none too happy about it, and took off the moment I got to my car. He was headed back in the direction of the club the last time I saw him."

"I don't believe you," Dorsey said. Then his fist swung upwards and it was good night, Steph before I even had a moment to wish that I'd put my panic button in my jeans instead of leaving it in my purse.

 _ **Ranger's POV**_

I looked at my watch again, impatient for the meeting to be over. Still, this guy was some big wig owner of a small jewelry store chain, and he liked to hear himself talk. From my desk, I had a few of my monitors rotating through internal cameras while the guy rattled on. I was trying to hide how much I was studying them, and I was grateful when he finally shut up and signed the damn paperwork. Bobby stood to escort him out after I shook his hand one more time, and when my office door closed, Tank and Lester stayed where they were, staring at me.

"Problem boss?" Lester asked.

"Lester, can you find out from whoever's working monitors if Steph ever showed up at some point today?" I returned.

"Were you expecting her to?" Tank sounded puzzled.

"I dropped by her place this morning to check on her, and she said she was going to stop by and say hi to everyone because she missed you all," I responded.

Lester frowned, "we all heard that she was at that club last night and danced with a guy, but you swore you were going to let her have a life, Boss. You promised us all."

"And I meant it, Santos. I just wanted to check on her because she doesn't usually go out alone. Guy didn't pressure her, but he left her with his jacket, so I think he'll be back. Not the point," I said, deciding Steph had told me about the kiss in confidence, so I wasn't going to bring it up. "She sounded excited about coming in, and even mentioned wanting to run some personal searches. I haven't seen her all day, and it's already 8, so I'm concerned. Now please go fucking check that I didn't just miss her!"

Lester paled a little but nodded his head and rushed out of my office. Tank looked at me then said, "personal searches?"

"I was trying to give her space, so I didn't ask. She said that she checks up on some of the nastier skips she's had issues with, and checks to make sure some people are dead." Tank just silently watched me and I added, "I suggested she talk to someone about, you know, PTSD."

Tank just snorted out a laugh. "That's rich coming from you, Boss."

I just shrugged, "I don't have enough of a soul left to be worried about things like that. I sleep just fine, and I keep an eye out for shadows that move. Steph is… different. She's still innocent somehow, and she believes in the good of people."

"None of us want her to lose that, Boss. I'll mention it when she comes in too. Maybe if a few of us say something, she'll actually go once or twice."

I nodded my head, then looked up when Lester rushed back in. "No one's seen her."

"Send-"

Santos cut me off, "Hal and Ram are already on their way to her apartment."

I stood and strode out my office door and to the Control Room where a faint buzz had already started up.

"Hector!" I called out, watching as the man's eyes immediately whipped to mine. "I want the cameras inside and any you can find around the perimeter of the club she was at last night."

"Orlando's" Cal yelled out helpfully.

Hector nodded his head and got to work. At Steph's insistence, we'd gotten rid of the cameras outside and inside her apartment, so when Hal and Ram called in the broken door and lack of Steph inside, I started cursing.

"She's got a lot of missed calls, Boss," Hal said as I was already sending some of our in house crime scene workers to the apartment. "you've got the usual- her mom, Lula, Connie, Mary Lou, even her sister. And some that I recognize as gossips because she programmed them in so she could decline. But I've got some extras from early this morning that Ram just ran, and they're burners."

"Alright, I'm calling a Code Bomber, vacation time is cancelled and you're all on overtime and hazard pay rates. Hal and Ram, you stay there and coordinate with the techs, then come in once they're all set."

Hector had a feed up that was fuzzy of Steph outside the club. It just so happened that she'd parked across the street from one of our accounts, so he didn't even have to hack in. She appeared to lead someone out, and confront him with three other people- a woman and two rather large men. The man she appeared to have tricked ran at her, and she threw him easily, which had several of my employees puffing up their chests in pride.

Two of the people she appeared to be helping picked the man up shortly after dosing him with something, leaving Steph with the one man, the bigger of the two. We didn't have audio, and they were a ways away from the cameras, but I could tell there was tentative flirting going on. I'd recognized his jacket, so I wasn't surprised when he slipped it onto her shoulders. They spoke for not too much longer before Steph got in her car and drove off. We got a nice shot of the man's face as he stood there, staring after her, and Hector was working on enhancing it even as he switched the video over to inside the club.

Orlando's wasn't one of our accounts, so I knew he'd hacked in. We watched Stephanie walk in, then hang around the bar, appearing mostly bored. I was expecting her to leave any moment, when she straightened up and looked toward the entrance. Then the video feed completely cut out. It appeared the outside feed had cut out shortly before, so we had nothing.

"Is Little Girl doing freelance distractions how?" Tank asked, sounding more than a little hurt by the idea.

I had about a million thoughts running through my mind that were along the same lines when Hector threw up the best version he could make of the picture of the man who'd seen Steph off. It took me a few minutes of just staring because the hair color was off. Then I remembered the jacket and started cursing.

"Hal?"

"Yeah, boss," I got in response.

"You see a leather jacket in Steph's bedroom?"

"Yep, the tech's are just about to-" he started.

I cut him off, "no! Tell them to treat that like it's made of glass and worth a thousand times it's weight in diamond."

My men were staring at me in surprise, and I just yelled, "I have to make a call. No one do anything, no one touch anything, and no one even think anything until I tell you otherwise."

"Bossman-" Tank tried.

"Anyone does ANYTHING, and you're fired, got it?!"

Slamming my office door shut, I pulled out the phone I took with me to the VA, and pulled up the number, practically laughing at exactly who I'd been trying to get Steph to talk to now that I knew who she'd been with last night.

I was relieved when he actually answered his phone, even if he sounded a little like he was going to blow me off. "Wilson?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"This is Ranger, from…"

"The VA. And that time in Congo, yeah, I know. Look, this isn't a good-"

"Don't you dare hang up on me!"

He was stunned into silence and I said, "I need to talk to your patriotic friend now."

"Look, it's really not a good-"

"NOW!" I yelled into the phone. "He got my friend tangled up in some sort of shit last night, and now she's missing?"

"Steph's missing?" he asked. I knew I hadn't mentioned her on this call, or given her name out when I'd talked to Sam ever, so that meant she'd made an impression, and he'd told Sam about Steph.

Obviously Sam was near the man in question because I heard a brief scuffle, and then a deep voice came on the line. "This is Captain Rogers."


	3. Backup

**Chapter 3 - Backup**

 _ **Steve's POV**_

Chianni had been knocked out for a few hours, and we wanted him to stew for a while, so when we got back to the New Avengers Facility, we dropped him in one of our containment cells and then all split up to get some sleep. My sleep had been filled with visions of the beautiful, brave brunette who helped me out, no questions asked, stood up for herself, and it seemed could hold her own in a fight.

Of course, she'd said she was a bounty hunter, so she'd have to be able to hold her own. Still, Chianni had several inches and at least fifty pounds on her, and she'd managed to take him out, so I was impressed. But what I really dreamed about was her lips on mine, and the way she'd felt pressed up against me. That wasn't something that I'd really taken the time to let myself have in this century. I hadn't allowed myself the time to take a break and find anyone special. It was amazing how quickly this one woman wormed her way into my brain and latched on.

Certainly it wasn't my heart that she'd found her way into. It was much too soon, and I wouldn't allow that. When it seemed she wasn't going to release me from her grasp anytime soon, I gave up on sleeping even though it had only been a few hours, and made my way outside for a run.

Every morning, I ran the perimeter of our space, and made sure nothing seemed out of place. Sure, FRIDAY was on watch, as were the small security team we'd pulled together so far, but I still liked to do so for my own piece of mind. Sometimes Bucky would join me, but after he'd settled into the place and started thinking of it as his home, he did so less and less often. Instead, he'd spend his mornings with Natasha, and always liked to tell me that someday I'd find myself a woman worth spending a few extra hours in bed and running on a treadmill instead of outside for.

I still wasn't sure about that, though my thoughts drifted momentarily back to Steph. When I pulled up to a walk back outside the facility, I made my way through to the gym. Reaching it, I was satisfied to see the rest of the team already inside and going about their various morning workouts.

There were several side conversations going on, but each one ground to a stop, when Natasha's husky voice eventually cut into my own mental wanderings saying, "she really threw you for a loop, didn't she, Cap? And to think, you're the one that kissed her. She's probably twice as distracted as you this morning."

I sat up from where I was bench pressing and huffed out a breath when I saw everyone staring at me expectantly.

"I thought you were on a mission last night," Sam teased. "You finally break your dry spell and get some while you were out? That's so not like you."

Coming from anyone else, I might have gotten angry. But I knew Sam was genuinely interested in my emotional health, and he felt a relationship would be stabilizing for me.

"I didn't _get some_ ," I ground out, annoyed by the phrase. "I just, had to maintain my cover."

"Is that what you kids are calling it these days," Rhodey tossed in. It was refreshing after Tony's jokes calling me an old man, to have Rhodey constantly making references to me being younger than him. As though the time on the ice didn't count.

Apparently everyone decided they weren't getting more out of me than that, so they switched to staring at a grinning Bucky. Bucky, of course, was all too happy to comply, "the Punk caught this pretty little thing's eye and put on a decent show of flirting with her across the room. Of course, he let it go on for too long, and got too close, so she recognized him. Before she could out him, he just kissed the hell out of her and told her they need to talk. Somehow she played along, got in a few of her own moves."

"Steve explained to her that he was on a mission," Natasha crowed excitedly, "and she knew the guy we were after because apparently she's a bounty hunter and knows all the cops. Then she offered to deliver him to us on a silver platter."

"Brunette, with curly hair and kind, accepting blue eyes. She's around Natasha's height and less curvy but average weight, right?" Wanda said in that distant way of hers. When Natasha nodded, Wanda just smiled mysteriously and added, "good. I will go prepare."

She wandered out, and Pietro just looked after her like he was torn between following her and hearing the story that was being told. With a sigh and a resigned shake of his head, he took off after his twin, muttering something about how she'd better have a good explanation.

"She bring you Chianni?" Sam asked. When I nodded, he questioned, "how'd she get him to you?"

Bucky spoke up, "she'd had dealings with him on one case, something about a gang banger he was arresting threatening her. And she said he was a drinking buddy of her ex. Basically she made Steve put the moves on her rather obviously, decked him, and then went up to the cop and harassed him into walking her to her car to make sure she'd be safe. He didn't want to, but she just laid the guilt on real thick about what if something happened to her. I don't think the guy really cared, and just went to make her shut up so he could get back to his night."

Natasha took a turn saying, "when he realized what she'd done, he called her some names then ran at her and she took him down quite effectively."

"I liked that part," I admitted with a big smile. I had always been partial to a woman who wasn't some shrinking wallflower, and laughed at the knowing grin Bucky gave me at that.

"So, did you get her number?" Sam asked.

"Nah, but she told me how to find her again," I said. "Left my jacket with her though. Figured I'd give FRIDAY a little workout at some point today."

"I'm offended that you don't think I already have her number," Natasha sniffed. "Maybe I won't give it to you now."

I shot her my best sad eyes, and she murmured that I was pathetic, but handed off a piece of paper to me anyway. I opened it up and it said, "what is this, the 40s? I already programmed it into your phone under 'Make a Move Damn It!'"

I laughed and Sam grabbed the note out of my hand before doing the same and passing it off to Rhodey. I watched as the note made it's way around to Bucky who pulled Natasha into a kiss.

"I leave you all alone for a couple months and this is what training turns into? What a lazy bunch," Clint hollered from the doorway.

"What're you doing here?" I strode over and asked while smiling and shaking his hand. "Finally bored?"

"Nah, just figured you'd have gotten yourselves into trouble by now. Plus, I had to check on the new kids, make sure they were still on the straight and narrow."

There was a blue blur as Pietro ran back in, past Clint and knocked him over, "seems you're the one who is out of practice, old man!"

In a flash he was gone again, and Clint just called out, "missed you too, asshole!"

Clint had a big bag with him, so I nodded to it and asked, "you back?"

"Laura said that if I didn't go give her some peace and quiet, that she'd kick my ass. Says I'm not allowed back until I bring you all with me for a Labor Day barbecue. If I'm good and I bring a nice girl home with me, I can visit at Thanksgiving. Otherwise, Christmas."

Natasha barked out a laugh, and said, "I've always loved her."

"And I've always regretted introducing you to my sister," Clint said.

"Please, I needed somewhere quiet to go while I shook the programming," Natasha murmured.

"Speaking of, how'd you shake it so fast?" Clint asked Bucky.

Bucky raised a brow but said, "Wanda."

"Huh," Clint replied. "Good for both of you then. Where is the good twin?"

"Dunno," Sam said, "we were all hearing about Steve's new girlfriend, and Wanda said she had to go get ready. What for, I have no idea."

"She's not my girlfriend, yet," I replied, wincing when I realized my mistake.

"Yet?" Clint asked.

When I remained silent, Sam prodded, "but you want her to be."

"Yes. No. I don't know. Maybe," I said.

"Yes it is," Rhodey spoke up. "Always trust your first instinct."

"With someone as wise as you, I believe this to be the best course of action as well," Vision said. He floated forward and shook Clint's hand before saying, "perhaps you'd like to come help me question our newest visitor. I believe with your interrogation skills and the Mind Stone, we should be able to quickly ascertain everything he knows about this newest HYDRA cell."

"But, I want to hear about Cap's new girl," Clint protested, though he still allowed Vision to pull him away.

As they moved in the direction of the holding cells, I could hear Vision reassure Clint that he'd already reviewed the after action reports and the recordings from our communications equipment and would happily provide all the information he requested.

"I have no privacy," I grumbled to myself.

"Not when you find a woman while wired up and on a mission, Punk," Bucky said gleefully.

The rest of the day was spent with more training with Wanda, who apparently was ready for whatever she needed to be ready for, Pietro, Natasha, Sam, and Rhodey, with Natasha occasionally leaving to check in on the interrogation. We'd decided that Natasha would take point with this case because, although she had her own set of issues with HYDRA, she wasn't nearly as personally involved as Bucky and I were, so she was better off taking lead.

I read her reports, and helped develop an action plan when one was ready, but in the meantime, I tried not to micromanage too much. And Bucky and I would definitely be in on the action when it came time to make a move on the cell.

At dinner, which we got to a little late, I sat staring at my phone. Finally, I flipped open the contacts and corrected Steph's name from what Natasha had programmed her in as.

"Oh my god, just call her!" Rhodey burst out.

"No, text her," Natasha said. "That way you don't come off as nervous."

"I'm with Natasha on this one," Sam said. "Plus, people don't really call anymore."

I opened up a text message, trying to decide what to say. Clint's cheery voice cut in with, "so, what are you going to say?"

I looked up to see everyone staring at me intently, including some of the support staff at other tables in the cafeteria, and I resolutely shoved the phone back in my pocket. "If I'm going to send a message," I hissed out, "it will be when I have some privacy."

Everyone started talking and arguing, so I barely heard Sam's phone ring. He held up a finger when he saw the display and said to us, "just a second. This is one of the guys from the VA and that I flew a rescue op for back a few years ago. Let me just make sure it's nothing major, probably just wants me to take a shift for him or something."

The guy on the other end of the phone was so worked up, you didn't need super hearing to hear his end of the conversation. When Sam asked, "Steph's missing?" I immediately made a grab for the phone, fighting the rest of the team off to get to it first.

"This is Captain Rogers," I said quickly. "Tell me what happened."

"Hello, Captain," I heard with more than a touch of hostility behind it. "So are you just using civilians and putting them in danger now?"

"Listen, I don't know who you are-"

I was cut off by an angry voice that said, "name's Ranger Manoso. Steph does part time contract work for my security company, and she's my best friend. She doesn't have any cases open for me or any open failure to appear files, but I have video of her helping you out last night with some sort of apprehension. Now her apartment door is in pieces, Steph's missing, and I've got a few dozen employees out for blood. In deference to your team, I'm holding them off investigating any further, but you better have some kind of plan to get Steph back or all bets are off!"

I ran a hand through my hair, and said, "look, I just met her last night, she offered to help, and I didn't think it would put her in any danger. I'll be there in twenty minutes- got anywhere I can park a jet?"

"We've got a helipad on the roof, will that work?"

Natasha cleared her throat and I just said, "yeah, that's fine. I'm bringing my team. Rangeman Trenton, right?"

As soon as I hung up, Rhodey and Clint said in unison, "you know Ranger?!" to Sam. The three eyed each other warily, but I just ignored it. "Avengers: Assemble!" I called over my shoulder, already running out of the room. FRIDAY started blaring the alarm, and I pulled on my uniform quickly in our locker room, grabbing my shield as I ran back out the door.

Much to my surprise, Natasha was already in the command center, suited up herself when I reached it. Sometimes, I was certain she could do magic. "You got a picture of her from your background check?" I asked, cutting my glaze over to her and catching the smile that I knew her well enough to know she'd run one.

Natasha tapped on a keyboard and a copy of Steph's driver's license popped up as well as a more recent picture. The rest of the Avengers piled in, and the various support staff set up their posts.

"Okay," I called out. "This is Stephanie Plum. She's a bounty hunter for... " I trailed off reading the screen in front of me, "Plum Bail Bonds in Trenton, New Jersey. She also works part time for a security firm called Rangeman. Last night, while we were bringing in a suspected HYDRA agent who…"

I trailed off as Clint leaned over and whispered something to Natasha, having come in the room last. Natasha cleared her throat and said, "committed suicide via cyanide cap that was implanted in his head. He bashed himself against the wall until it broke open when he heard the alarm. It's a new location for an implant, Cap. That's why we didn't find it, I'm sorry."

I clenched my jaw and started again, "last night, while we were bringing in a HYDRA operative, we came across Ms. Plum who assisted us in capturing him quickly and quietly and with no danger to any other civilians. At some point today, she was abducted from her apartment, and her current whereabouts are unknown. We have no reason to believe she would be taken outside of the Trenton area, so for the time being I want you hacked into every camera you can find in Trenton and the surrounding suburbs. If you find her, you let us know. The team is headed to Rangeman Trenton to work with her coworkers until we safely locate her. Any questions?"

I received a chorus of "no, sir" and nodded my head before spinning on my heel and striding off.

When we reached the jet, I called for FRIDAY to act as pilot and get us to Rangeman as fast as physically possible. I stood staring at the computer screens in the jet's mobile command center, and Natasha settled in on one side, Bucky on the other.

"There's no way you could have known, Steve," Natasha said gently.

"We left her there, defenseless!" I spit out.

"She's not defenseless," Bucky said, "and you warned her they were dangerous."

I just stood there helplessly watching the face trace software pull up and reject possible matches.

"At least it's late," Clint reasoned. "There are going to be fewer faces for them to run through. They'll be able to track all the ones they've already rejected, and they'll be able to run through any new ones that pop up more quickly. If she makes it outside, we'll have her."

Unable to watch any longer, I looked over at Wanda and simply asked, "you knew?"

"I didn't know it was this, but I could tell that something was going to happen. Something that in all likelihood was going to bring her to us for a while. I was actually preparing for what would happen after that."

"And what is that?" I asked.

"Nothing bad," Wanda said. "But it is best if you're unaware until it happens. If you stop it, the consequences will be dire. It will be frightening, but ultimately for the best."

I held Wanda's gaze for a few more beats before I nodded. "Do you know if she's okay?"

"I'm sorry, I do not," she whispered, "but I can see the probability has actually grown that she will come back to you now that we're on our way to Trenton, so I think it is likely that she is alive. Having met her, I cannot see anything that doesn't involve one of us. I'm sorry."

"No, that's good," I said. I walked over to the front of the plane, and watched as we sped through the evening sky, waiting for a city appeared in front of us.

When Sam sidled up next to me, I said, "tell me about Manoso."

"I actually didn't know that was the name he was going by now, I just know him as Ranger. He's been called that since I met him. He was Army Special Forces."

"The Rangers," I said. "Is it usual for one to take on the name of the entire organization?"

"No," Clint piped up. "But Ranger is the best."

"Was the best," Sam clarified.

"Is the best," Clint insisted and Rhodey nodded his head. "I can't get into details, but he's kept a hand in."

"Do you trust him?" I asked Sam first.

"Yes," Sam replied without hesitation. "And I saved his life, so he owes me one. He's absolutely a man you want owing you a favor like that."

I looked over at Clint who said, "I'd trust him with Laura and the kids. And we've traded saves through the years. I think he's one up on me though."

Finally my gaze settled on Rhodey who said, "absolutely. No questions asked on either end, we'd go to the mats for each other."

I blew out a breath and said, "okay then, we trust him. You should all know, I'm pretty sure he wants to murder me right now."

"Well," Rhodey said contemplatively, "if your Steph is the one he calls 'Babe' and all his men call 'Bomber' as well as a few other assorted nicknames, I have no doubt that's true. He won't do it though until he's sure you can be of no further help. And if you bring her back, then you'll be fine."

"I got your back," Bucky said.

"Yeah, don't worry, Cap. We're a team- more than that really. If it comes down to it, I'm throwing down with you over him," Sam said.

Clint and Rhodey voiced their agreement, but I just said," I'd much rather we find her alive and make it unnecessary."

"Steve," Natasha said, "I have Cho on her way over, just in case."

I could see the city I recognized as Trenton speeding closer, and nodded my head, pure nerves.

"Hang on! We got a possible match!" Vision cried out triumphantly. "60%"

I walked back over to the monitors and watched as the face trace kept increasing in certainty. 78%, 82%. As soon as I saw the picture, I knew it was her. "We're going, brace yourselves. FRIDAY!" I called out, grabbing onto the roof of the jet and watching as Pietro sped up to grab Wanda and get her into a seat. Everyone else held on to whatever was handy as FRIDAY tipped the jet almost completely sideways in a sharp maneuver as we changed course. Once we were right side up again, Sam had his phone out relaying the information to Rangeman.

"They've got SUVs all over the city looking for her, and Ranger's in that damn Turbo of his," Sam said. "They'll be there just behind us."

On the monitor, you could see Steph trying to make her way undetected through a business complex. She was sticking to the shadows, which was why we were never getting a good enough shot of her face for the facial recognition to go over 85% certainty that it was a match, but I was sure. As we approached, I saw her turn wide eyes behind her, then pick herself up and run.

There was no audio on the camera we were watching, but she seemed to fall a couple times. I wasn't sure exactly why, but the last time, she grabbed at her side on the way up, so I had my concerns.

"I think she's taking fire," I warned everyone.

"Yeah, well, sounds like fun," Natasha replied. "Let's go get you a girl, Cap!"

I didn't even bother to respond, just pulled my shield off my back as the jet lowered itself. Due to the narrow gaps between buildings, we couldn't just land the jet at her, so as soon as the ramp was down, I took off running.

"Steph!" I called out, "to me!"

She didn't even hesitate, just altered her path and ran toward me. I whipped my shield off, preparing to throw it. When she completely cleared the corner, I was surprised to see that it was a car with gunmen hanging out the windows and some motorcycle riders after her, rather than people on foot.

As I ran toward her, I threw my shield, making it ricochet off one motorcycle and across to the next. Of course the angle was such that it wasn't going to get back to me, and I could see Pietro was busy with a second car, so I just grabbed Steph and spun so I was between her and the vehicle. I jumped with her in my arms, mostly clearing the SUV and kept her safely on top as we landed and slid along the ground.

Thankfully we passed by my shield, so I grabbed it, and when we came to a stop against the wall of a building, I put myself and the shield between Steph and the battle in front of us.

Apparently, Bucky was pissed because he used a grenade launcher that sent the first SUV careening into the sky on fire. Natasha was bent over one of the motorcyclists who'd gone flying off, and she looked over and shook her head. Sam did the same with the second.

I could hear the sounds of more cars coming in the distance, and figured that was the Rangeman crew, but I kept my shield up just in case as I looked at the woman in front of me. "Steph, Sweetheart, are you okay?"

"Mostly," she replied, groaning as she shifted a little. "Thanks for the save."

"You look like you were doing a pretty good job of saving yourself," I said as I started looking for wounds, starting by prying her hand away from her side. Finding the gunshot wound I'd been afraid I'd find, I put pressure on it with one hand.

"I've been on the run for a couple hours now, gave them the slip a couple of times, but I don't think I would have made it past them this time. Not with the bullets."

"Bullets, plural?" I asked. "Where else are you hit?"

"Back of my shoulder," Steph said. There was no exit wound in the front, so that was bad. "and I think the thigh? Side hurts the most though."

Her teeth were gritted as I said into the communicator in my helmet, "I need help here." Deciding the perimeter was secure enough with Clint standing in the open jet, bow at the ready, I put my shield on my back to free up both hands.

I rolled Steph onto her side and winced at the shoulder wound. Then I noticed the blood going down her jeans, and as gently as possible put my finger in the hole in the denim then ripped the rest of the leg away.

I was pretty sure she muttered, "geez, if he wanted in my pants all he had to do was ask," at that, but I wasn't sure. Of course, if Natasha's laugh was anything to go by, I was correct.

Pietro skidded to a stop next to me, and said, "what've we got?"

"Three gunshot wounds that I've found. The side, which is deep but through and through. Back of the shoulder, no exit wound, and one in the thigh, haven't looked at it much yet, just got the pants out of the way."

Pietro was by her legs, so he looked at that wound first, "this one grazed her. Another on the opposite calf, also a graze. Looks like someone beat the hell out of her too," he added, drawing my attention back to the bruises on her face.

A Porsche and an SUV pulled up right by us in a squeal of tires, and I was talking with Steph, "okay, Steph, you did it, alright? You're safe. Now, I need you to stay with me."

Wanda knelt down next to Steph, and put her hands out, going pale as the red glow started flowing between her hands and Steph's head.

Clint and Sam ran over so that they reached us at the same time as Ranger, holding him back. One of the men from the SUV rushed over with a medic pack and pulled on gloves. I explained her wounds to him as Friday told me that Dr. Cho would be at our facility faster than the eight minutes it would take us to get back once we got her on the jet.

"Ranger," I called out, carefully moving my hand from the side wound to give the medic room to work while keeping pressure on the shoulder wound. "We have the Avenger's doctor, Dr. Cho, at the facility waiting. She has a machine that can regrow tissue like it was never gone. Please let us take Steph there for medical care."

Clint said something I didn't quite hear, and Ranger nodded his head curtly. "Can you take any of us with you?"

"Four," I said, pulling the number out of nowhere really.

"Plus you and the medic," Natasha called out.

Ranger pointed to four other men and they started walking toward the jet. When the medic took over with the shoulder wound, I put pressure on the two leg wounds and Pietro sped off for the jet.

"That's handy," the medic commented even as Pietro reappeared.

"Yes," I said. "When he's not being arrogant about it. Sometimes even when he is. I'm Steve."

"Bobby," the medic replied. Then he directed his attention to Wanda and asked, "what are you doing?"

"She can't really talk right now," Pietro said. "But she's taking some of the pain for Steph. Helping to keep her conscious and slow her heart rate so she doesn't bleed so fast. When you move Stephanie, I'll carry my sister with you so she can keep it up for as long as possible."

Bobby seemed to take that in stride, just nodding. He finished taping up the shoulder and when I moved my hands from Steph's thigh, he started putting a pressure bandage on that, while I fixed another on her calf. Looking at me Bobby said, "need help getting her on that?"

"Nope," I lifted Steph straight up and onto the stretcher, and Bucky came up and grabbed the other side. Together we ran with Steph to the jet where the rest of the team was waiting with Ranger and the rest of his employees. As we ran, we fixed the straps across Steph, and when we made it to the jet, we secured the stretcher down.

I pointed Bobby to one of the seats and said, "Buckle up, we've got this, but we're going to be moving fast."

Bucky and I added pressure to Steph's more critical wounds, not shifting as the jet took off, and Pietro braced Wanda who was looking more and more pale.

"Wanda," I warned. "Don't go too far."

She just shook her head without looking up, and I exchanged a look with Pietro who just shrugged, "it'll knock her out before it'll kill her. But she may not be ready for a workout in the morning."

FRIDAY's voice cut in, "we will be landing at the medical entrance in thirty seconds."

I heard murmurs from the strangers at that, but didn't even register it, simply bracing myself and Steph as we landed. As soon as the jet powered down, Bucky and I started unclipping the stretcher. We had Steph up as the ramp touched the ground, and ran out to where the medical crew was waiting with a gurney. We set the stretcher on the gurney, and Bobby and Ranger followed as the medical team ran off, with Wanda and Pietro staying at Steph's head.

I stood there, watching after them for a few seconds, when Sam came up and clapped me on the shoulder. I winced, and he asked, "you okay, man? That SUV got you pretty good on your way over it, and you hit the ground pretty hard."

Natasha's fingers probed a bit, but I held back any further reaction as I said, "yeah, I'm fine. At least ten times better than her," and stormed off to the locker room.

Once there, I quickly stripped off my helmet and harness and stashed those in my locker. Then I peeled off the top half of my uniform and chucked it into the laundry. Someone on the cleaning staff would check to see whether or not it was salvageable, and I had others as back up either way. I ripped off my gloves and tossed them in the trash, asking FRIDAY to order an extra pair only to be informed that I already had backups of those as well.

I stopped at the sink long enough to scrub the blood off my hands and forearms, noticing Pietro doing the same. "Thanks," I said.

"She was innocent, caught in the crossfire of our battle. Of course I would help her, even if you weren't interested in her romantically. In that case, I think I would actually be pursuing her myself," Pietro teased, laughing at my reaction. "As it is, I recognize your claim to her."

"She's a woman, not a thing. I don't have a claim to her," I said, but appreciated the sentiment nonetheless. I walked out of the locker room in the exercise shirt I wore under the uniform, and still completely unchanged from the waist down. I kept my shield in hand, as I strode down the hallway, noticing that I picked up the rest of the team and Ranger's employees trailing behind me as I went.

Dr. Cho's setup was open to the rest of the team's preferred lounging space, as we usually kept whoever needed it company until treatment was done. As I walked in, I was surprised to see that Steph was still awake. When she grinned and tried to wave with her good hand, but failed because it was strapped down, I realized that the medical staff must have given her some pretty good pain killers. I nodded to Wanda, who was sitting on a stool nearby eating a cookie with gratitude, and she gave me a self-satisfied smile in return.

Steph was covered up across the bust and waist by some medical draping, so I walked forward when Dr. Cho indicated it was fine. I bent down to watch as the machine worked on her side for a moment before shifting my attention to where the doctor was trying to carefully dig out the bullet.

"It's refreshing," Dr. Cho said when I looked at her again, "to have a patient who lets me use things like pain killers and doesn't metabolize them faster than I can get them in. Makes this part easy."

She emphasized the last point, by plunking the bullet out onto the tray next to her. I picked it up and walked over to the sink to wash it off and sanitize it. When I was done, Natasha was standing there and took the bullet, moving over to a workstation. Moments later, Natasha said, "best guess, 40 caliber Smith & Wesson. We're not going to be matching the ballistics to anything though, it's well and smushed."

I walked back over to Steph's side, and Dr. Cho looked me over as I moved. "Stephanie here was telling me all about how you took her for a ride up and over and SUV and then skidded along the ground without your shield. You okay under there?" She nodded her chin to my shirt, and when I just nodded my head she said, "I don't believe you."

She said something in Korean to her assistants, and then stepped away from Steph and stripped off her gloves. I could sense the amused gaze of Ranger as the smaller woman just pulled me to the side, grabbed a pair of scissors and cut my shirt off.

She poked at what I knew was bruising, and said, "mmmhmm, broken rib."

"I'm sure it's just cracked," I tried.

"Maybe in an hour it will be, but right now it's broken. So I expect you to behave accordingly in the meantime." She poked and prodded a few more times before gently shoving me away by my arm. "You'll live."

I was grateful when Sam called my name and tossed me a new shirt, this one white to pull on over my head again. Where I'd been standing was out of Steph's view, so when I walked back into her line of sight she said, "you changed your shirt! I like this one better, more arms."

I barked out a laugh that was matched by pretty much everyone else in the room as I was now clothed in a tank top and my arms were bare.

Steph had apparently dismissed me again, distracted by the machine working on her side. "I've never seen one of these before," she said in awe.

"One day, I hope they'll be in every hospital," Dr. Cho said. "But for the time being, they still need some work, and each time we use it it costs about-" I cleared my throat and shook my head, cutting the doctor off. "well, let's just say for the time being it is too expensive to use on anyone other than the Avengers, really."

"I'm not an Avenger!" Steph said.

"No you're not," Natasha slid up next to her and said, "but you got hurt helping us, so you get treated like one until you're all better."

"Sounds good to me," Steph replied before closing her eyes.

I looked over at Dr. Cho who nodded and said, "that's the pain killers finally overcoming the adrenaline. It's fine. She'll be up and about good as new in a couple hours, and her tissue should be regrown before then. Really, it'll be like nothing ever happened."

"Thank you Doctor, and sorry for getting you up so late."

"It was actually early morning when I received your call, and I had just woken up."

"Still, we appreciate you making the trip. When are you going to take us up on our offer to move over here?"

Her eyes wandered over to Vision, and he said, "I promise, you can study me as much as time allows."

She nodded her head and said, "I'm keeping my old facility as well, and I'll need to hire some more medical staff."

I smiled and said, "perfect. Why don't you go get some breakfast? I trust you remember your way to the cafeteria?"

With a nod of agreement, Dr. Cho and her staff quickly finished up with Steph, removing the IV and telling us to make sure she stayed put and they'd return to work on her back shortly. As that one was mostly muscle tissue, and they'd already programmed the machine into Steph's genetic makeup, it wouldn't take as long. Looking over at Ranger, I inclined my head towards the debrief area where the rest of the team was gathered a short ways away. We could all watch over Steph in case she woke up from there.


	4. Chosen Family Cares

**Chapter 4 - Chosen Family Cares**

 **Ranger's POV**

Obviously I knew Sam, and had easily figured out that he was Falcon. After all, he and his wings had saved my team and I when we were in a tough spot a few years ago. And I'd met Hawkeye a few times, not realizing it was him until SHIELD's data dump had happened. You'd better believe I had read that whole thing over the past year. And then there was Rhodey, who was an ally before he was Iron Patriot, and when he'd dropped off pretty much everyone's radar after Iron Man publicly retired, well, I thought it was easy enough to fill in those blanks.

Knowing such a substantial portion of his team, I'd expected to meet Captain America at some point. I honestly figured it would most likely happen at the VA because he'd made some appearances there when I wasn't around, and it seemed more like a matter of time. What I didn't expect was to speak to him for the first time when I so badly wanted to murder the man.

I followed behind him, leaving Steph behind with the freaky machine of the medical future, and standing where I could keep an eye on her. Which left me standing next to Captain America, and I still wasn't ready to forgive him. Still, "how much does that thing cost to run?" I asked.

"I believe the treatment Ms. Plum is in the process of receiving would be upwards of two million dollars," the weirdly reddish colored man who had introduced himself as "Vision" said.

Tank let out a low whistle and said, "that must be some treatment."

Hawkeye just pulled up his shirt and said, "find the chunk that isn't me."

I looked at his abdomen, unable to find anything resembling scar tissue and said, "impressive." Finally, I turned to the man who was clearly the leader and said, "so, Captain Rogers, do you want to tell me what this is about?"

"Maybe we could do introductions first," Sam said amiably.

He went about introducing the various Avengers first, and when he got to Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, I said to the young woman, "what you did for Steph was amazing. Even more miraculous than that machine over there, and at great personal cost. Thank you."

I received a small nod in reply, and then introduced the members of my team who had joined me on the journey. Bobby had already been introduced to a couple of them, and then I had Tank, Hector, Lester, and Ram with me. When I told them about Ram's title as "Rangeman's Weapons Specialist," I could see a childlike glee come across the faces of Clint, Natasha, and Bucky, as we'd been instructed to call them when they'd been introduced to us. A quick glance at Ram revealed a matching expression, and I realized I was going to have to keep an eye on those four. Captain Rogers's expression was identical to mine in that moment.

"How'd they get her?" the Captain asked once introductions and small talk died down.

I sighed, "her front door was a piece of shit, and any time I upgrade it or the security on it, she makes me change it back when the immediate threat is over. So they kicked it in and grabbed her. Didn't seem like she put up much of a struggle, which is not like her at all."

"Uh, would she have fought if it was cops?" Captain Rogers asked nervously.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath. "Anyone other than her ex? No, probably not at first. Even if it was Morelli she'd probably hesitate long enough to give them the upperhand. Is that who you had her bring in last night? A cop? Which one? I want to talk to him."

"Guy named Gus Chianni," Captain Rogers explained. "We had evidence that he was a member of a new cell of HYDRA that was forming in Trenton, so we brought him in for questioning. He gave us some information, but when you called, we sounded an alarm to get everyone to their correct posts for us to go on a mission. When he heard the alarm, he committed suicide in his cell. He won't be answering any more questions."

Tank piped in, "none of the bodies left behind at the scene were of cops. They've got preliminary IDs, and they seem to be a bunch of common criminals."

"They wouldn't send their top guys after her, she wasn't high enough on the food chain. We need to understand what she told them though," Natasha mused.

"Won't be much," I replied confidently. "I want to know where they had her."

"Doesn't matter," Bucky said. "They'll have fried any records of anything they had there and abandoned the place by now. If you see any reports of suspicious fires, that'll be it."

"She said she'd been on the run for two hours," Captain Rogers said. "Could be that it seemed longer than it was, but she mentioned having to evade them a couple times. We saw her go down three times once we got her on camera, so that probably accounts for all the bullet wounds, assuming we missed one just before we found her. I'd wager she'd been more successful the previous times she hid. They may not have been in that direct area when she started. How far could she go in say an hour of solid running time where all she was trying to do was put distance between herself and her captors?"

"Scared," Lester pondered, "I'd say probably close to eight miles in an unknown territory and terrain. She's been running around 8 minute miles lately, and on a good day she puts in an hour on the treadmill."

"So maybe farther depending on the adrenaline rush," Bucky said. "That's a big area, especially if her perception of time wasn't off."

We all stared at the map glumly, and I commented, "this wasn't her first time being abducted. If she says two hours, she's probably pretty close to on the money. The big question mark is how much she got slowed down when she had to hide from them."

Rhodey stepped forward and waved his hands at the monitors, "I know this type of thing is right up your alley, Ranger, but SHIELD and HYDRA are right up ours. Your guys are welcome to keep searching, but this all is powered by an AI created by Tony Stark." He paused for Santos to snort out a laugh and me to tell him I'd be meeting him on the mats for it, before continuing, "if there's something to be found, FRIDAY will find it."

I guessed FRIDAY was the AI then. Still, I took the time to read through all the data displayed, multiple times, even though I wasn't gleaning anything new from it. I could sense the others doing the same, and from time to time, Tank stepped to the side to take updates from the men on site back in Trenton.

I hated feeling so useless, especially when it involved Steph's safety, but I realized there was nothing more to do at the moment, I walked over to one of the comfortable looking chairs and sat on it. Steph still seemed to be rather out of it, even though they'd detached all her pain meds, so I turned back to the group. Looking the Captain over head to toe, I said, "you didn't give her your number or get hers, but you left her your vintage jacket?"

I saw smiles light up around the room as the Avengers saw their leader shift uncomfortably. Sam sounded practically gleeful as he said, "you said you gave her your jacket, but you didn't say WHICH jacket."

My lips twitched and I said, "I think she almost convinced herself it wasn't you until I mentioned that it appeared to be vintage, by the way, Captain."

I was thoroughly enjoying watching the man squirm, and he rubbed the back of his neck before replying, "really, I'd rather you call me Steve when we're not in the field together." I shrugged letting him know I thought he had to earn that, and he just sighed and said, "she told me that I could find her at Rangeman Trenton, and I knew I'd be able to get a number for her. Plus, I told her I might come back for the jacket."

"You'll have to excuse him," Clint said, "guy's a dumb ass when it comes to women, from what I've heard."

Bucky was nodding his head enthusiastically as he said, "and I've never seen him this twisted up over a dame before."

It seemed that in giving the Captain a hard time, I'd stumbled across a favorite past time of the team's. "So," I said slowly, fixing him with one of my more murderous looks. "You're not playing games with her then, toying with her?"

"No, sir."

I studied him carefully for several more minutes, and no one moved while I did so. The Captain just held my gaze steadily and I never saw anything other than truth, so I finally gave a single nod. "Okay then, Steve."

I saw the big man relax a little, and felt satisfied with myself for being sufficiently intimidating. Sliding my gaze over to Hector, I smiled darkly at the way he was spinning a knife around on his fingers, seemingly without a care for whose space we were in. "Stephanie es nuestra familia," he said dully.

"And we take care of our family," Tank warned.

Steve nodded in understanding, and Pietro said, "well, I like them!"

Clint snorted out a laugh, and like that most of the tension dissipated.

"Hector," Natasha said, apparently not buying that the man didn't speak English. "You're smaller than the others, you teach her that hip throw?"

Hector grinned evilly and nodded, "Estefania learns quickly when she tries. I also taught her to pick a lock, and get around other security measures."

"Yeah, well, I taught her to get out of cuffs," Lester bragged, "and other restraints."

"I taught her to throw a punch," Tank claimed.

"I taught her not to be afraid of her gun," Ram added. "She's a natural, so I can't take much credit for her skill beyond that. Just had to get her to the point where she was willing to practice and carry it with her more reliably."

When everyone turned to Bobby expectantly, he said, "I've been teaching her some field medicine skills. She's no army medic, but she'll give someone a damn good chance until one gets there."

Finally everyone's gaze settled on me, and I shrugged, "I taught her how to be the best in the business, and the importance of backup and when to know you need it. Her capture rate is over 90 percent."

A faint voice called from across the way, "stop, you're making me blush. Though, I did use a lot of that today."

 _ **Steph's POV**_

I woke up to the sound of a few Merry Men and Ranger boasting about me, and it took me a couple seconds to remember everything that had happened, but it all came rushing back quickly enough. My throat didn't feel all that dry when I spoke, so I didn't think I'd been out too long. I looked down at my body, startled by the machine and my state of mostly undress. At least I could feel my undergarments intact under the paper, and I was pretty sure that they weren't embarrassing undies today.

I was surprised when the first person to make it to the side of my bed was none other than Steve, rather than one of my guys, but it was a pleasant surprise.

"How do you feel?" he asked eagerly.

"Surprisingly okay given that I think I was shot?"

A slender Asian woman stepped forward pulling on gloves, and Steve shifted to allow her better access to the machine. She answered the question in my statement with, "You were indeed, four times if we count grazes. Twice if we don't. I figure a bullet is a bullet, but when you hang around these superhero types, they tend to have opinions on these matters."

"Sounds like four to me," I replied kindly. "You look familiar, and like you're in charge. So I'm guessing we've been introduced, but I don't really remember much."

"Well, Wanda had you under her spell, so to speak, until the pain killers started doing their thing, so I'm not surprised by the lapse in memory. I'm Dr. Cho, and the Avengers bring me in when one of them gets really hurt. Now, as we've been over, even if you don't remember, it's true that you're not an Avenger, but you got injured in the line of duty, so they figured that you should get the good treatment today. They're not a bad bunch to stick around if you're thinking this is going to be a regular occurrence. To answer what I'm sure is your next question, I developed this machine myself and it is regrowing the tissue you lost due to being shot. Looks like this spot is finished up, so we'll go ahead and move it to your other major wound. Then, since I'm here and we've already calibrated it to you, we'll go ahead and get those grazes, and you'll be good as new before too much longer."

"Huh," I said in response.

"She must like you," a guy who looked vaguely familiar walked up next to Steve and said. "She just tells me to lay there and shut up when it's my turn."

"I'm pretty sure that's because you tell her you're fine and you'll just walk it off," the redhead from the night before walked up next to him and teased. "Hi, I'm Natasha, we met last night."

"Yes, I remember." I said. When the man with the metal arm walked up, I had a moment of panic and looked down at my abdomen to make sure I really had skin, not metal.

The man burst out in laughter and said, "yeah, I'm Bucky, or the Winter Soldier, and this arm was not Dr. Cho's work. Unfortunately, she wasn't around when I lost my arm."

"Anytime you want to, I'd be happy to try to regrow your lost arm," Dr. Cho said as though it was the most casual thing in the world. "I know you've been concerned that I've never done a human limb before, but I actually regrew a hand for someone just a couple weeks ago. He's quite pleased with it."

There was a momentary silence, one in which Bucky pointedly didn't take her up on the offer and everyone else seemed nervous. Natasha tapped on her phone before holding up a picture of a dirty looking man, and asked, "was this him?"

"No, and don't you worry, Maria Hill brought him to me for treatment."

When it seemed that conversation had dropped off for the time being, I cautiously asked, "who is Wanda?"

Another woman stepped forward, and I remembered her from the Ultron news coverage. She was the one who had been shooting red stuff out of her hands and using it to rip robots apart. "I am Wanda," she said quietly. "I promise, anything I found in your mind while helping you will remain between us."

"Okay," I responded slowly. My mind was a frightening place, and who knew what the hell she'd found, so I figured that was a definite peace offering. "And how exactly did you help me?"

"I took some of your pain, and eased the stress on your mind by bringing happy thoughts, memories, and wishes to the front so that there would be less stress on your body. It kept you conscious and your blood pressure regulated while we transported you here."

"That is awesome," I replied. Then hastily said to the doctor, "not that regrowing tissue isn't."

I got a polite smile in response and I asked, "where exactly is here?"

"The New Avengers Facility," Steve said simply before giving in and adding, "in Upstate New York. With our jet, it was actually faster to get you here than it would have been to wait for an ambulance and get you to surgery in a regular hospital."

"Alright, so Avengers. That makes him Hawkeye," I said looking at the one that I'd thought I recognized. "Anyone else hanging out I should meet?"

A few more men stepped forward and introduced themselves as Pietro, Sam, Rhodey, and Vision. Although I wasn't entirely sure that Vision was a man, but I thought it seemed like that wasn't a question to be asked when first meeting him. With introductions complete, Ranger stepped forward.

"Hey, Babe. Pretty crazy way to get a guy to call you back."

I glared at Ranger, and turned my attention to Tank instead. "Hello, Tank. It's good to see YOU."

"I'm hurt, Beautiful. Are you not happy to see me?" Lester called out.

"I can't actually see you, Les, so I didn't know you were here" I retorted.

"Ram, Hector, and I are here too," Bobby called out.

"You just wanted to see what cool toys they had, huh?"

"Nah, we were worried about you. Plus, I was trying to make sure you didn't bleed out and all that."

I tried to shrug, but winced because my shoulder definitely wasn't healed yet, even if it had been rather well numbed. Finally bringing my gaze back to Ranger, I fixed him with a look and said, "they're cops, so you can't just make them disappear."

Ranger didn't say anything back, and finally I sighed and rolled my eyes. "It was Dembrowski and Dorsey that grabbed me; I haven't seen them in a couple years, but I'm sure of it. They banged on my door, called out the usual police nonsense, but busted down the door before I could open it. Then they questioned me about Chianni, and when they didn't like my answer, they knocked me out and took me."

Everyone was staring at me intently and it was making me feel more than a little nervous. Then I felt a big hand reach down and release the restraints that had obviously been used to try to keep me from moving while my side had been repaired and I was unconscious. Looking down, I saw it was Steve, and when I brought my gaze back up at his face, he gave me an encouraging smile and took my hand in his to give it a reassuring squeeze.

When he didn't let go, I felt my courage bolstered, and I drew in a breath, "he knocked me out just by punching me," at that, Dr. Cho reached over and probed around the bruise on my face. Then she pulled out a light, shined it in my eyes, and asked me how many fingers she was holding, who the president was, you know, the usual. After a minute, she seemed satisfied enough that she moved back to the machine that was already hard at work again. I took a few moments to watch it move behind me then started speaking again.

"I think they drugged me because when I woke up things were a little fuzzy. More so than they should have been just from taking the punch, and I got the impression I'd been there for longer too. I was fully clothed, which is always a relief, and it was just a small dark room, no windows, no furniture, just me and the ground. Eventually someone came and took me into another room for questioning. They cuffed my hands behind my back and sat me in a chair, but they didn't put them behind the back of the chair, so I was basically sitting on them. After they questioned me for a while, with more hitting, and some creative threats worked in there involving me not in clothes, they left.

"I just kept telling them the same thing. I'd asked Chianni to walk me out to the car because I was worried that I'd attracted unwanted attention. The last I'd seen him, he'd been headed back in the direction of the club. It was the truth, so it wasn't difficult to keep straight, I just left some parts and some people out.

"They told me that they were done talking to me, and if I wasn't going to tell them anything, they were just going to let the boss have me- said he had a thing for brunettes and he'd probably have some fun. Maybe it would lighten him up a little. Then they were just gone. I waited, and waited, but I couldn't hear anything. Nothing in the room looked like it was one way glass, I didn't see any cameras, and I knew you couldn't track me because I didn't have my phone or my panic button, so I figured I had to try to get out."

Tank caught my gaze, and he said, "good that you did, Little Girl."

With another deep breath and squeeze of my hand in Steve's I plowed on with my story. "They must have been listening to the Trenton gossip mill- you know the ones that talk about how useless I am and what a disaster of a bounty hunter I am, rather than the ones that talk about the time I spend at Rangeman- because they made it so easy for me. The hardest part was getting my arms around to the front, but once I did, they'd left a pen on the table, and my ankles were free."

Lester scoffed and I smiled in that direction, pleased when Steve shifted so I could see him and smile at him with gratitude. Then I switched my gaze over to Hector knowing he'd like this part. "I picked the locks on the handcuffs, then went over to the window. I noticed that it was wired, so I went through the room looking for anything I could possibly use as a weapon. When I didn't find anything, I took the wire out of my bra and used it to short the sensor. I think that moment was the most scared I'd been because I knew if I did it wrong, it'd set off the alarm. So when it didn't go off, I took a minute to slow my heart rate down, check for guards outside, and then I was out of there."

"Do you know where you were?" Ranger asked.

I paused for a while and thought about it, trying to pull up a map in my head of everywhere I'd been in the greater Trenton area. I ran through places like the Pine Barrens, but I was sure I was on the other side of Trenton. After about a good twenty or thirty minutes of running through everything I'd seen in my mind again, I just couldn't come up with anything distinctive. Although I appreciated the quiet while everyone let me think, I was disappointed when I didn't have an answer for them.

"I'm sorry, I don't. I think it was some sort of farm because I had to run across a few open fields. I think I set some PRs for running speed on those stretches because I kept picturing getting sniped or something. For some reason I decided that Trenton was in one direction and I just went with it, but it was hard to not doubt myself early on. My spidey sense went off a few times, and I hid, and I'd hear them go past me searching. I think we played that game for around two hours, and I'd say I was running for about half that time, when I finally stumbled upon what felt more like civilization."

"I started to realize that the angle I was coming in at was going to have me coming past the Police Department. Dorsey had said something about an arrest warrant, so I wanted to stay away from there, and I turned. That means I wasn't running in just one direction the whole time. They picked me up near some kind of corporate compound-y thing, and thankfully, backup arrived just a few minutes later because, well, bullets."

"That's really good, Steph." Natasha said in a way that was kind and not at all placating. She actually thought I'd done a good job of getting myself out of trouble, and I felt as though I should get some kind of award for that.

Everyone waited while Dr. Cho shifted the machine down to my leg telling me that the last two patches would be fast. While she worked, both teams took turns peppering me with questions about what I'd seen, heard, even smelled. I wasn't sure if my answers were helpful, but no one seemed upset with me, so at least I didn't think I was wasting their time.

It was Wanda who called me out on it, when Dr. Cho was finally putting away her equipment. "What did you mean earlier when you said 'spidey sense' or something to that effect?"

I laughed and waved it off and said, "it's just this gut feeling I get sometimes when I know someone's watching me or nearby and they mean me harm. Or when they don't mean me harm. It's part of why I knew I could trust Steve last night, he just felt like he wasn't going to hurt me. Plus I mean, when Captain America says he needs your help…"

I trailed off and Sam enthusiastically said, "there's no better reason to get involved. That's basically what I said! I don't know why other people find that to be such a hard concept to understand!"

I smiled over at him kindly before shrugging and said, "it's just my gut. No big deal. Probably it's just me being paranoid at least half the time."

"I'm not so sure about that," Wanda said with a mysterious smile. When I didn't look convinced, she just added, "You'll see in time."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hector's line, "Stephanie es nuestra familia," means "Stephanie is our family" in Spanish.


	5. Lie Detector

**Chapter 5 - Lie Detector**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

After the inquisition, Dr. Cho made everyone leave the area, insisting that she would help me get dressed into some scrubs and then bring me to the cafeteria to meet them. Once they were out the door, she did as she promised. I took a minute to use the restroom, grateful to find it stocked with feminine hygiene products because it had been a long day, and I was in desperate need as far as that was concerned. Able to clean myself up a little in the restroom, I was feeling better by the time I came back out. When I did, instead of taking me to the others, Dr. Cho had me sit down on the exam table again for a moment.

Seeing her put on what was definitely a doctor face, I blurted out, "Rangeman makes me get physicals every quarter, my blood work has been clean the last three checkups, and I haven't had sex in at least a year. So you shouldn't have to worry that I gave anyone anything hinky."

"Actually, the Captain, Bucky and Pietro, and they're the ones who helped you in the field other than Bobby, are incapable of catching 'anything hinky.' Nor are they capable of spreading diseases, for the record," she said using air quotes, but giving me a pointed look on the last bit. "I was going to ask if you're on birth control. If not, we keep various options stocked here, as most female agents prefer to be on them in case of abduction. When I'm treating Wanda or Natasha, I always check in with them and like to be able to provide them anything they ask for if they make such a request. Second on my agenda is that I want to make sure you weren't leaving anything out of your recounting of the events."

"No, I told you everything. They threatened to rape me, but no one touched me in that way at all. I was on the pill, but I don't have it with me here. It's in my purse which is, I gather, still at my apartment. Although, it's placebo week anyway, so I'm still on my period. It's almost over, so it's light right now, thank goodness. And thanks for stocking that bathroom. Sorry, now I'm awkwardly rambling. Anyway, I have a day or two to retrieve my pills before it becomes a problem."

"If you'd like, I can give you an implant in your arm that will last three years, or a shot that will last three months. Either option will be effective immediately without any waiting since you're on your period now."

"You think I'm going to have sex with Steve," I said slowly.

"I'm partial to Thor, myself, though he's taken, but the Captain is very handsome. And he seems quite smitten with you. I'm just offering you an option that you won't have to remember if things develop romantically between you."

"The implant in my arm?" I asked after a bit of thought.

"I can do it in this arm over here, since I'm assuming you're still rather numb from what we gave you earlier. It's good for three years, but if you were to decide before then that you DID want to get pregnant, you can take it out and you'll be fertile right away. All you need to do is tell any doctors you see that you have it if they ask. Bobby actually shared your medical records, and your most recent pap smear was done recently enough that I'm comfortable proceeding without further tests."

"Well," I started, "I'm not sure you're right about Steve and I. After all, we just met, but since I don't have my pills here, and I've never been great about remembering them anyway, that implant sounds convenient. I'd roll up my sleeve to say I'm ready, but, well, I'm wearing short sleeves, so there you go."

Dr. Cho walked over to a cabinet, and pulled out some supplies. She listed a few more benefits, reassured me about what she herself called "super sperm," and also named a few things to watch out for as far as side-effects were concerned. A minute later we were walking out of the room together like nothing had happened.

When we reached a doorway, she patted me on my other arm and said, "I'd like it if you stayed around for a few days so I can make sure you don't suffer any side effects from any of my treatments. And you should definitely take it easy- you lost less blood than you could have, but my system rebuilt tissue, it didn't add blood back into you. We decided to forego a transfusion because it wasn't worth the possible complications. There are plenty of rooms in the residential areas available, so I'm sure it won't be a problem. I'll send updated medical records to Bobby for you, so don't worry about that. I've eaten just a while ago, so I'm going to get back to my lab and start arranging to bring everything I need over here. Most of it can be done without me, so I'll stay here until I'm sure you're okay. Just let me know if you need anything or feel off in any way."

Left alone, I took a moment and gathered myself before pushing the door open. I stopped just inside, surprised by the number of people who were there. Upon reflection, just the area I'd walked through so far was large, and I'd gotten the impression there was much more to the compound. So of course the Avengers needed people there to run the place. Even so, I was taken aback.

Before I could stand there for embarrassingly long gaping like a fish, Steve walked up and put a hand on the small of my back, guiding me over to a counter. Instead of trays of prepared food, there were just various chefs waiting patiently. The woman who was waiting at the counter looked friendly and reminded me a little of Ella.

"This is Mary," Steve said, "she's one of the members of our wonderful culinary staff. They rotate through and there's at least one person here twenty four hours a day, more during the higher traffic hours. You can drop by anytime, and they'll make you anything they can with what they have in stock. If you're feeling like you can stomach some food, you should eat something. I'm guessing you didn't stop for dinner while you were on the run. With the amount of blood you lost, it would be good to refuel your body."

I stared at Mary blankly and finally said, "I'm Steph."

"Hi Steph," she responded kindly. "You're the talk of the place this evening. Helped the Avengers last night, then got captured by HYDRA and broke yourself out. Sounds like you could use something hearty and comforting. What kind of things do you like to eat when you've had a bad day?"

"Mac N' Cheese?" I responded, "or meatball subs?"

"Oh, Alfonso makes the best Mac N' Cheese, I'll get him started right away, and why don't you take some juice and a cookie in the meantime? I figure, if that's what they feed people when they donate blood, it can't hurt when you've involuntarily shed it either."

"Mary, I have a feeling this could be the start of something beautiful," I said with a grin, pleased when Mary laughed in response.

"Why thank you, Dear. I'll make sure we start stocking the supplies for meatball subs in hopes that it helps persuade you to hang around long enough to make that true. So many of these people just don't know how to eat. Not your Captain though, he could eat a cow if I put it in front of him for each meal, and Thor would eat a whole herd, I think. Now, normally people wait here, but it's late, things are slow, and you're looking a little pale, so why don't you go sit down. I'll bring your dinner over to you when it's ready?"

She turned and walked over to the other chefs before I could blink, let alone inform her that Steve wasn't "my Captain." And Steve just used the hand he'd kept on my back to gently nudge me toward the others, picking up the juice and cookie that Mary had set out for me with his free hand.

When we got to the table, I was pretty sure there had been some shifting around, but I found myself seated between Steve and Wanda with the Rangemen scattered throughout the Avengers. Everyone was locked in a conversation, so that Steve and I would have no choice but to converse among ourselves for the time being.

"This is a lot of people you have here," I started out admittedly lamely. I winced, but couldn't seem to stop myself from continuing, "it's more than I was expecting."

"We actually still have a lot of hiring to do, and after everything that happened with SHIELD, we have a very thorough screening process everyone has to go through." Clint cleared his throat pointedly from down the table, and with a sigh Steve continued, "in fact, I'm going to have to ask you to take The Lie Detector test after dinner, if you don't mind. It's, uh, nothing personal, just policy for all visitors who need to get a lanyard. And anyone who stays overnight or is left unattended needs a background check as well."

"Uh, not to be the person who invites herself over, but Dr. Cho seemed to think I needed to stay for at least a day or two," Steve winced and I trailed off. "Right, you already DID a background check."

Well, that was awkward.

Natasha spoke up from the end of the table and said, "no I'm the one who did the background check last night. Before I gave Steve your phone number, and told him he'd be a fool if he didn't call you since he was clearly interested. He was going to text you tonight, but then Ranger called first."

"Wait, you know Ranger?" I asked Steve. Actually now that I thought about it, I had no clue how the Avengers had been the ones to show up and save me.

"No, Ranger knows Sam and figured out that you helped us out last night. So when you went missing he called to ask if we had any idea where you were."

Ranger was sitting down the table a ways, so I leaned forward and said, "did you threaten Captain America?"

"Babe."

"Well, that's not a 'no,' Ranger. It wasn't his fault! Actually, it was my idea. A fact which should in no way surprise you!" I turned to Steve and said, "I'm really sorry for whatever it was that Ranger said to you. Please don't feel guilty about this."

Steve shook his head and said, "Ranger had a point, we put you on HYDRA's radar and then didn't have your back. I know Dr. Cho wants you to stay so she can monitor you for a couple days, but we'd like it if you could stay until we've resolved the HYDRA in Trenton issue completely." Clearly seeing that I was about to get stubborn on him, Steve hastily added, "it isn't _just_ about protecting you; you offered last night to give us information if we needed it, and you've already identified three players, two of whom are still at large. We'd really like to see what other insights you can offer us, since you clearly know the area and the people well."

I was mulling it over in my head, and Sam across from me just said, "hey, Captain America still needs your help."

I looked at the various Merry Men, trying to gauge their reactions, but they weren't really giving me much to go on. Finally I looked at Ranger again, and he just said, "Cal already picked up Rex and packed up a few of your things and brought them to Rangeman. If it looks like this is going to stretch on more than a couple of days, someone can drop by and grab them for you."

"You're free to come and go as you'd like, Steph," Steve clarified. At Clint's cough he sullenly added, "provided you pass the Lie Detector test. Though if you're going to go into Trenton, even just to pick up some things at Rangeman, it would probably be best if you took at least one of us with you for the time being."

"Are you sure I'll be helpful? Not just some silly girl getting in the way?" I asked.

"You just bested HYDRA," Natasha said. "A group of them, all on your own. I think you're clearly more than just some silly girl, Steph. And Steve doesn't lie. It's a problem really, in our business, but it means you should believe him."

"Okay," I said meekly. "I guess I'll stay. Just for as long as you actually need me here to help you."

Mary happened to walk up with a tray of food that smelled delicious saying, "well, I for one am glad to hear it!"

I took the fork as soon as she'd set the tray down, and couldn't help myself from stabbing my fork in the pasta and shoving it in my mouth, not caring that it burned me in the process. I let out a moan, not even a little sorry about how uncomfortable it seemed to make all the men around me and when I swallowed, I said, "I take it back. As long as Mary and Alfonso are here, you may not be able to get rid of me. This is way better than grilled chicken salad, and twigs in yogurt, Ranger!"

"That stuff will kill you, Babe."

I shrugged and said, "don't think my life expectancy has been all that great for a while, Ranger. Might as well enjoy the food while my Hungarian metabolism will let me in the meantime!"

"Here here!" Rhodey said, raising his burger to me in a salute of sorts.

Tilting my head to the side, I appraised the man and asked, "how did you meet Ranger?" When he paused I just waved it off, "that's fine. It's classified, blah blah blah. I won't even bother to ask you, Clint and Sam."

Both men gave me apologetic looks, and I just waved them off. "It's fine, I'm used to it. I should have figured that's how you all knew him, and not bothered to ask."

Conversation started flowing between everyone else again, and I realized that I was at least feeling less awkward with Steve now, which was nice. "So you were going to text me?" I asked. "What were you going to say?"

Steve turned an adorable shade of red and said, "I hadn't figured that out yet, actually. And they were all watching, so I was waiting until after dinner so I didn't have an audience while I worked on it."

There was something adorable about the way that he implied there were going to be drafts involved. Then I realized, "wait, you already had dinner?"

"Most of us did, yes," Steve said easily. "Not everyone had finished though, and, well, Bucky, Pietro, and I have to eat really frequently anyway. And Wanda needed some help recharging after helping you for so long. Plus, we figured you were hungry, but you might not want to just have us all sitting here watching you eat, so this would be more comfortable for you."

"That's very kind of you, thanks." I said softly. "I'm sorry I interrupted your dinner."

"Yeah, well, we're sorry we got you kidnapped by HYDRA," Bucky yelled down the table. "That's definitely worse."

I sighed realizing I was going to have a difficult time convincing the three in question that it hadn't been their fault. Deciding to let it go for the moment, I said to Steve, "Ranger mentioned that the jacket you left with me last night looked vintage it isn't…" I trailed off when I saw that Steve had turned an even more intense shade of red. Turning wildly back to Ranger, I said, "shit! Can you tell Cal or someone to-"

Ranger cut me off, "already handled, packed away safely with the things to send up here for you and in the Rangeman control room where nothing can happen to it."

"Oh thank God. Could you imagine if my apartment got firebombed again or something while it was in there. I'd probably get arrested for treason if that jacket got destroyed."

Steve huffed out a laugh at that, and squeezed my knee gently under the table, "honestly, it's just my jacket. If something happens to it, it's no big deal. Though, why would you say 'firebombed'? That's a weirdly specific thing to be worried about. And why is it 'again' for that matter? Also, didn't you say something last night about your last car blowing up?"

The Merry Men cracked at that and started laughing, with Lester and Bobby even doubled over holding onto their sides. I mumbled under my breath, "things have a tendency to blow up around me," hoping no one would actually hear.

Steve stiffened a little, but Bucky just laughed from down the table, "hey, things blow up around me all the time too!"

"No they don't, Bucky!" Natasha said, smacking him upside the head, "YOU blow things up all the time. That's different! One implies intent, and the other not so much."

I just shrugged and said, "those are stories for another time, suffice to say I have a knack for picking up the crazies. Rest assured, with my luck, if there was HYDRA in Trenton, I'd have stumbled across it on my own eventually anyway."

To my surprise, everyone seemed to take that more or less at face value. Though when I looked at Steve and Natasha, each was wearing an expression that said we'd be discussing it in more detail later.

After dinner, we all walked amicably down the hall together. When we reached a door, Steve opened it, and held it for me. I walked in, only to stop short when I realized it was a small room with a table, a few chairs, and one really big, intimidating contraption.

And only Clint and Sam had followed me in. I grumbled something about that being sneaky, but both man just laughed a little, telling me to always remember that Steve is a master strategist.

To set me at ease they told me it was no big deal, just a formality. Of course, that sentiment was hindered a little by the warning they then gave me that the device had been created so carefully that not even Natasha could beat it.

Without further ado, they strapped me into the machine and we began. Clint asked the questions, and Sam silently observed.

"What is your name?"

"Stephanie Michelle Plum"

"What is your occupation?"

"I work as a freelance bounty hunter for Plum Bail Bonds which is run by my cousin, Vincent Plum. I also work part-time at Rangeman Security for Ranger Manoso, who you know, on a short term contract basis."

"What do you do there?"

"A little bit of whatever they need. Usually I run horribly invasive searches on job applicants, customers, and any people they're trying to bring in for failure to appear in court. That's why I don't really mind that Natasha ran a check on me. Rangeman doesn't do bounty hunting much anymore, so the searches on FTAs aren't a very large part of the job. Sometimes I consult on their security system designs, and provide a female perspective."

"What's the difference between an egg and a rock?"

I blinked in surprise, then just said, "Chickens come from eggs… Rocks are useless."

"You wash up on a deserted island alone. Sitting on the sand is a box. What is in that box?"

"An endless supply of Boston creme donuts and pineapple upside down cake." Clint stared at me for a full minute at that, and I finally blushed. "I was supposed to pick something more useful wasn't I? I'm sorry. Should I do it again?"

"No, that's fine. Have you ever killed anyone?"

"Yes, but they tried to kill me first. It was self defense," I said.

"Anything else we should know about you?"

"Um, as I mentioned earlier, a few... dozen… of my cars have exploded, burned, or otherwise been totaled. And my apartment has been fire bombed or the equivalent several times."

"Is that your way of saying you're a pyromaniac?"

"God no. It's never my fault. I just... attract trouble, often in the form of people trying to kill or maim me. Or destroy my property."

"Sounds fun," Clint said with a smile then started detaching everything again.

"Wait? That's it?" I asked.

"That's enough," Clint said.

"It was the box wasn't it? I should have chosen something bad-ass like a gun."

"Guns run out of ammo," Clint said with a laugh. "Something I'm sure you know."

"Okay, a gun and an endless supply of bullets."

"I didn't say it was a magical box."

"You didn't say it wasn't," I argued.

We were out in the hall at that point and everyone else was waiting, Steve with his arms across his chest.

"We'll review the recording later, but what'd she put in the box?" Natasha asked eagerly.

"And endless supply of donuts and cake," Clint said in disgust. "I mean, I like sweets, but that's not useful. At all."

I shrugged, "First of all, not just any cake, pineapple upside down cake. Second, I didn't want to starve to death on the island. Food is absolutely useful! If you think I'm skilled enough at survival tactics to catch a fish or a squirrel or something to eat, you are wrong. I also don't know which plants you can or can't eat. You know, it's possible that I should really just avoid being trapped on an island alone. Or maybe I should put one of you in the box; who is the best at survival situations? Also, I'd just like to point out once again that you didn't say no magic."

Steve stepped forward and put that hand on the small of my back once again to start me walking forward. His touch was driving me nuts in a way that had me grateful for Dr. Cho's forethought. If this was how he made me feel while keeping his body a distance away from mine that seemed ridiculously large given how we'd met, I was really curious to see what would happen if he actually put the moves on me. I figured spontaneous combustion wasn't a bad guess.

"And the difference between a rock and an egg?" Steve asked casually.

"Chickens come from eggs, and rocks are useless," I replied through a yawn.

Steve started guiding me down a hallway, and Sam came running to catch up to us, having ducked into some office by the interrogation room when we'd exited it. In his hand was a lanyard that he passed over to Steve, and Steve looped it over my neck.

"This is mostly for the physical security guards and agents that are here, until they get more used to seeing you around at least. Though it's probably best if you just always keep it on you. The facility also has a fully functional AI named FRIDAY. She got a complete measure of all of your biometrics while Dr. Cho was treating you, so you've been fully integrated into the system here. You'll only be allowed into spaces that you've specifically been given access to. If you get lost or you need anything at all, you can just say, 'FRIDAY, how do I get back to my room?' or something like that, and she'll answer."

"That seems easy enough," I said. "If not a little creepy."

"I assure you," Vision said, speaking for the first time possibly since I'd been introduced to him. "She operates under very strict privacy protocols. You should not be concerned about doing or saying anything in front of her and having others find out, unless you have nefarious intentions. Given that you've just passed the Lie Detector test operated by Hawkeye and Falcon, I believe the likelihood of that to be quite small."

I gave him a wide smile, that seemed to surprise him in the way each of the Merry Men had been surprised when I accepted them as they were. It was the same look I'd noticed from Wanda and Pietro as well. In that moment I decided that, next to Steve, I would make those three my primary missions to win over. They seemed like they could all use a little more friendship and freely given love in their lives. Not that everyone on the team didn't seem to need a hug, but my gut told me those three needed it the most.

Looking around, I said, "where did the guys go?"

"One of our pilots was going out for some night hours to keep his jet pilot qualification, so we asked him to take them back to Trenton. They said to tell you to get some rest, and call if you need anything," Natasha smoothly replied.

"Oh," I said, only a little surprised that they'd left in that manner. They really weren't great with emotion, after all, and they had to know odds were high I would wind up crying on one of them if they actually said goodbye. And I'd really hate that later. "I don't have a phone though."

Then I stopped, looked down at myself in the scrubs Dr. Cho had given me, and felt my resolve not to cry in front of a bunch of superheroes wobble a little. I started blinking rapidly, trying to hold it back, and I said, "I actually don't have anything. Other than my shoes. Those are mine. I mean, it's late, so it's not like I'm going to want to call anyone tonight. And these scrubs are comfortable, so I can sleep in them. But what am I going to do tomorrow?"

I looked up and gave Steve a look that I'm sure blatantly showed how lost I felt in that moment. He reached out with the arm that wasn't already behind me, and just wrapped me in a hug. We stood there in the hallway with the sounds of everyone else slowly leaving barely making it through to my consciousness. I allowed myself to be rocked back and forth and soothed by Steve, but I managed to keep myself from crying and making a mess of his shirt. Mostly.

"You give really good hugs," I said into his chest after a few minutes.

"Good," he replied simply. Then after a few more seconds, he added, "I think I like giving you hugs."

"Good," I whispered back.

After a couple more minutes, Steve cautiously stepped back. "Now, come on, let me show you to your room. And don't worry about tomorrow. By the time you wake up, we'll have some clothes for you, and a phone. Then we'll figure out what else you need and take care of that, alright?"

Looking up at his gaze, I just felt this urge to trust him and let him take care of me, something I'd never really felt for a man before. So, I nodded my head resolutely and said, "alright."

* * *

 **A/N:** Lie Detector questions borrowed from Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.


	6. Getting Comfortable

**Chapter 6 - Getting Comfortable**

 _ **Steve's POV**_

When I wrapped Steph up in my arms, and pulled her into a hug, it felt like I suddenly had something that I hadn't been fully aware I was missing or looking for. But here she was, and she just seemed so willing to accept me.

I just hoped she would be able to see me as Steve, separate and unique from the persona of Captain America. Some people could, and some people had a more difficult time doing so. If she couldn't, that would probably prevent us from growing the relationship I was envisioning.

As I guided her toward her room, I noticed that she slid herself ever so slightly closer. Taking that as a hint, I ran my hand from the small of her back around to her outside hip so I could hold her into me. I felt her shiver at the movement of my hand, and it filled me with an odd, possibly premature, sense of triumph.

There were parts of me that had been convinced for a couple of years that there was no way I could have a relationship, fall in love, or have a family and the life I'd always dreamed of before I became Captain America. Those sections of my brain were sure that allowing myself to love would only end in destruction, death, and heartache. Either I would be forced to leave the woman I loved behind again, only to wake and find her gone, or she would be killed because of me. I fixated on those two possible outcomes, saw them as likely, and convinced myself I shouldn't even try.

At some point, Sam had overheard me giving advice to Bucky during his early pursuit of Natasha. I'd told Bucky that I was the leading authority on waiting too long, and he should trust me and make a move before it was too late. Love and be present in the days he did get to spend with Nat. Even if something happened to one of them or things didn't work out, he'd never regret it because he got to live it.

The next time Sam and I had talked, he'd asked me what terrible thing I'd done that made me less deserving than anyone else. Why did I feel that I shouldn't have the same right to my hopes and dreams? When I'd been unable to come up with an answer, he'd made it clear that the answer was nothing. It was okay that I had been sad, and grieved even, but the time for that was past.

Now it was time to move on, and truly seek my happiness. I didn't need to worry about living without a war because there would always be one I could fight if I wanted to. What I needed to do was find something more compelling than war, something for the man inside the mask. Doing so would ground me and make me a better soldier who was more likely to make it home each mission.

That conversation had been a while ago, and it made me withdraw into myself and just think. If I truly believed that every person deserves to be happy and should strive to make that happen, then Sam was right. Because I was a person. Beyond the cowl and the uniform of Captain America, I was Steve Rogers, a boy from Brooklyn who, just like everyone else in the world, deserved a home.

So now it was time to work toward that goal, and I couldn't help but feel as though the woman by my side just might be the key to my success. This woman who was used to danger herself, and would clearly able to understand and handle its presence in my own life. Steph, it seemed, had battled through adversity to get what she wanted, even with people hunting her or telling her she wasn't good enough to get the job done. If Steph was willing to take me on, well, I might just be the luckiest man in the world, so I was going to jump on that opportunity.

Glancing over out of the corner of my eye, I checked her reaction to my move, and was thrilled to see a small smile cross her face. It bolstered my confidence a little, which, as the team was always eager to point out, really wasn't at its best around women in whom I was interested. When we reached the door to her room, I stopped outside.

"So, this is one of our temporary overnight guest rooms. Since you'll probably wind up being here for a little while, we'll move you to something more comfortable tomorrow. This was just the quickest to set-up for you," I explained. "FRIDAY will allow you access via your biometrics, but the badge works too. And, well, as a matter of policy, the team has access. You can ask FRIDAY to place you on privacy mode, but any of us can override that. It's a security thing."

"It's the same thing if I have to stay at Rangeman because of a stalker. For that matter, people break into my apartment all the time, so I've just come to expect it. That's my terrible way of saying I don't mind," Steph replied with a soft smile. Then she looked nervously down and said, "do you want to come in for a few minutes? I get a feeling we should grab the bits of alone time we can here and there, if you're interested that is. Your team seems invested in your happiness- which is really nice."

I let out a short burst of laughter and said, "well that's a very kind way of putting it; I usually just call them a bunch of meddlers. And sure, I'd love to come in. I won't keep you long though, you could probably use some rest."

At that, I pushed the door open and guided her into the small suite. It was rather like a nice hotel room in that it had a bathroom with a separate vanity, a small sitting area with a couch, a tv, and a desk, and then the bed. With the couch backed up to and facing away from the bed, I was glad that I didn't have to stare at it while talking with Steph.

She sat on the couch next to me and turned to face me as best she could, pulling one leg up onto the cushion to help her turn even more and resting her chin on her knee. Then she gave me what was probably the widest smile I'd seen from her yet and said, "so… tell me a bit about yourself!"

I blinked at the sheer open-endedness of the question, not really sure where to begin, and Steph took pity on me and shrugged. "As a bounty hunter, I tend to work a lot- there's almost always someone to be finding. But when I do have some downtime, I like to visit my best friend Mary Lou or do some shopping at the mall. What do you like to do to fill your time?"

"Well, my work hours can be rather unpredictable, and I do actually like to spend a lot of my free time training and reading various tactical reports and strategy books. I think that it's largely because I couldn't really do anything physical for most of my life, and it's only been since getting the Super Serum that I've been able to do it. So working out, and learning new types of hand to hand combat is just fun for me. But when I want to relax and get away from it all, I like to draw. Bucky and I actually took some art classes back before the war. I think if I hadn't done this, I would have tried to be a professional artist. There wasn't much that I could do by way of paid work being as sick as I was."

Steph looked at me thoughtfully for a few seconds before she asked, "do you like what you do now? Even if it isn't quite what you originally thought you would be doing? Do you regret volunteering?"

I was surprised by the question only because most people just assumed, without even asking, that there were no downsides. To them, I was super strong, fast, healthy, everything really, so OBVIOUSLY I would want to do what I was doing. It was refreshing to be asked, and I took the time to carefully word my response.

"I think knowing what I now know and having seen the things I've seen, I wouldn't change the path my life has taken. I enjoy the team, and yes, I like being able to help people. I signed up for the super soldier program because I wanted to make a difference and protect people. But it's been a struggle, and there have been times where I haven't been sure. Everything that happened with Ultron and some of the events surrounding it really got into my head. That took me to a place where I wished that I could go back to my old life. With the help of the others, I've gotten to the point where, you know, I'm happy that I'm here and I'm really ready to live in the present."

Deciding to try to lighten the mood a little, I added, "And I'm a bit of an adrenaline junky, so a lot of missions are just plain fun for me, assuming lots of innocent people aren't dying or anything like that. What about you? How'd you get into bounty hunting? Do you like it?"

"I actually blackmailed my way into the job."

"You did not!" I laughed.

Steph nodded emphatically saying, "I have a business degree, and I was working as a lingerie buyer. Not long after my divorce, the company I worked for closed because of corruption and pretty much all of the management being arrested. I lived off my savings for as long as I could while trying to find similar work, but nobody was hiring, especially someone whose only experience was for a company like that. My mother was trying to convince me to find a new husband, but my father was all for me finding a job.

"I found out that my cousin Vinnie, who is a disgusting excuse for a human being, by the way, was hiring someone for a few hours of office work. When I got there, it had already been done, but the office manager, Connie, mentioned that they needed someone to pick up some bonds because one of their bounty hunters was out for emergency surgery. Vinnie didn't want to give me the job, but I told him that if he didn't, I'd provide his wife with some information I'd heard that he really didn't want her to have. Connie arranged an introduction for me to Ranger, and asked him to show me the ropes so I didn't get dead on the job."

"So you just decided to become a bounty hunter? You didn't have any prior law enforcement experience or anything like that?" I asked, a bit floored by the information.

"Nope, no prior experience. My car had been repossessed, my bank account was basically zero, and I was having to go to my parents' house to eat, which meant lectures multiple times a day from my mother about my poor life choices. Did you know she blamed me for my husband cheating? We'd been married for like five minutes. I mean, I know I can't cook, but I seriously doubt that I had proven myself to be THAT bad of a wife already. So yeah, I needed the money, and it was the option available to me, so I took it."

"Someone would have to be crazy to cheat on you!" I started, and then, for the time being, decided it was best not to dwell on that subject. "But you didn't answer the whole thing. Do you like it?"

"Well, I mean, I think it's a mix. I've seen some horrible things happen to other people, and I've had some really bad things happen to me as a result of the job. But there are some people I've helped who I think wouldn't be alive or would be in permanently bad situations if I hadn't, and I can't regret that. I'm happy I could help them in the way I did. And there are some who, even if they weren't specifically one of my bounty hunter cases, being a bounty hunter gave me the skills and connections to help them. I also really like not being stuck in an office 40 hours a week. Sometimes the money gets tight when people aren't jumping bail, and sometimes I want to quit because of the danger. But overall, yeah, I like it. I have a hard time imagining anything else I would rather do these days."

That wasn't the first time that she'd alluded to the danger and bad things happening, but it didn't seem like the right time to question her on it. Especially given the ordeal she'd been through today. Instead I decided to try to lighten things a little again and offer more information about myself in the process. "Do you know what I thought was the most disappointing thing about the future once I woke up and realized that I was in a whole new century?"

"The fact that rocks were still useless?" Steph teased.

I couldn't hold back the laugh at that, as I started by teasing her back, "you do know a rock will make a pretty decent weapon if push comes to shove. Just one of their many uses. But, no, it was that there weren't any flying cars. Bucky and I went to the World Exposition of Tomorrow, right before he shipped out in 1943, and Howard Stark, Tony's dad, was demonstrating this car that hovered. He swore that it was just a few years from being the way everyone's car was. And when I woke up, and ran into Times Square, and Nick Fury told me I'd been asleep from almost 70 years, that was one of my first realizations. All the cars were still driving on the ground."

"Ha! I suppose that would be disappointing. What was your favorite thing about the future?"

"Well, I think the two big ones are just some of the civil rights advancements that had taken place. I never liked bullies, so I was excited to learn about the American civil rights movement, the furthering of feminism, and some of the more recent gay rights achievements. Seems like there's still a lot of work to do, but things have come a long way. And then- technology. I don't know why everyone seems to think computers and technology will just freak me out, even though I've been awake so long. I actually love technology. Cars may not be flying, but a lot of of what is possible now still just seems like magic or something out of science fiction, and I can't get enough of it."

"Well, have you seen the lines that form around the stores every time the next tech thing comes out these days? I'm pretty sure you're not alone in that enthusiasm, and if you like it that much, I have no doubt you're better at it than me. Hector put this security system on my apartment once that had a keypad and it just never worked for me and I got so frustrated that I shot it."

"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it didn't start working after that?"

"No, oddly enough, it did not. Hector had to uninstall it, but I felt a lot better! For a while when Hector saw me after that all he would do was make a gun with his hand and say 'bang' at me. He thought the whole thing was hilarious."

"I think I know a few people who would also find that story funny, if you decide to share it with them. Three of them might decide to help you beef up your security in less technical ways, if you'll let them."

"Bucky, Natasha, and Clint?"

I nodded, and happily noted how quickly she seemed to be getting a read on my team, as I was hoping that if they all got along, it would make her time spent here feel less like something she was forced into. Maybe she'd even enjoy it.

"I like your team," she said carefully when I hadn't said anything more after a minute of comfortable silence.

"Yeah, they're alright," I responded. "They definitely grow on you too."

After a few beats, she said, so quietly I almost didn't hear her, "I like you too, Steve," at the same moment I said, "may I take you out to dinner tomorrow? On a date?"

She smiled and nodded at the same time I fully processed what she'd said and let out a grin of my own.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, hoping I'd get an honest answer from her.

She paused to think about it and I felt as though almost read her thought process by studying her facial expressions as she tried to decide how honest to be. At first she seemed to psych herself up for blowing off the question, but then she studied me for a moment and let her bravado fall back away. With a shrug she said, "I'm tired, I guess. Probably the whole blood loss thing. But I know I'm feeling at least twenty times better than I would be if I was just getting out of surgery at the hospital. Thank you for, you know, bringing me here and having Dr. Cho treat me."

"Of course we'd help you as best we could, you got hurt helping me, Steph. For no other reason than because I couldn't take my eyes off you when I knew better, you got dragged into this whole thing and onto HYDRA's radar."

"Steve, I wasn't kidding when I said that if they were in Trenton, I would have stumbled across them eventually anyway. At least this time you guys and your resources were there to help me out when I got trapped. But you heard Tank, the people they sent after me were repeat offenders. The type of people that they used for their dirty work, some of whom probably would have gotten caught and skipped bail. It would only be a matter of time before I pulled one of them as a skip, _if I hadn't already_ , and that would have put me on their radar too."

After a few moments contemplating it, I nodded and said, "you're right, of course. I just… wish you didn't have to be involved."

"But I am, and I involved myself. I'm a grown woman and I offered to assist you. Steve, you were there as Captain America on a mission. I knew it was dangerous when I made the suggestion that I help, but I did it anyway because it was the right thing to do."

Of course, the first woman I feel myself start to fall for in the twenty first century, and she's just as stubborn as me. And, again, she was right, so I just said, "and above everything else, I'm grateful for that. I appreciate that you're willing to keep helping us, instead of going into hiding or something. Though if you want, we can arrange that instead."

"Steve," she said, rolling her eyes and sounding exasperated. With her hand she reached up and cupped my chin, forcing my eyes to meet her gaze. "I want to help the Captain and his team, and while I'm at it, I'm really hoping I get the chance to get to know YOU."

Nodding resolutely, I said, "I want to get to know you too. This was nice, so we'll get to know each other some while we work tomorrow, and everyone pokes their noses in our business and offers their two cents. Then we'll do dinner out in the nearest town? There's a place that has killer meatball subs… or we can go somewhere nicer actually."

Her hand slid up to clap over my mouth and she said, "nope! You now owe me a meatball sub now, I will settle for nothing less. You can't mention it then take it back. I won't be able to think of anything else until I get one!"

"Yes, ma'am," I replied smartly when she uncovered my mouth once more. Then, on impulse, I leaned forward and dropped a quick kiss on her cheek before standing. "I should let you get some sleep."

I turned toward the door, and started walking toward it when I was stopped by Steph saying in the smallest voice I'd heard from her yet, "Steve?"

Curiously, I turned around, and saw her staring at the ground again, doing that thing where she was blinking like crazy trying to stop a flood of tears. It just melted my heart to see her battling so hard to stay strong. "Yeah, Steph?"

"I just, could you… I'm not… I just… I won't be able to sleep, and I thought maybe… never mind, it's stupid. Have a good night, I'll see you in the morning," by the end she'd rolled her shoulders back and was standing proud and tall once more, but I'd already seen the vulnerability there.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?"

"If you don't mind, that would be great. I just." She blew out a breath, clearly trying to find her resolve and said, "It was a long day. And this is a new place. And I don't know anyone here. And maybe it's lame, but I know I won't sleep-"

This time I placed my hand gently over her mouth, and I nodded my head. It would be tough to keep my hands to myself, but there was no way I was going to take advantage of her. I wanted a shot at the whole deal with Steph, and I wouldn't blow it for a night of fooling around with her when she was emotionally compromised.

But if she needed me here so she could sleep, then I would give her that. "I can do that. Just let me go to my suite to change out of my uniform pants, okay? And Bucky took my shield back to my suite for me earlier, but if it's alright with you, I like to have it with me most of the time, so I'll bring that back too. I'll be back in five, maybe ten, minutes?"

She nodded her head still looking embarrassed, so I gently shoved her toward the restroom and told her to get ready for bed, she'd find any supplies she needed stocked inside. And I'd be there when she got back out.

Then I rushed back to my room, changed into sweats and a shirt I could leave directly for my run in and swapped my boots out for my running shoes. I quickly brushed my teeth, freshened up by taking the world's fastest shower and shave, and grabbed my shield up from where it was resting against the wall by the door on my way back out. On a whim, I ran back in and grabbed an extra big shirt of mine and a pair of my gym shorts out of the dresser.

When I made it back to Steph's room without running into anyone from the team, I figured I was lucky. FRIDAY let me in, and I grabbed an extra pillow and blanket from the closet and stretched out on the couch, listening as Steph's own shower cut out and trying not to picture her naked and wet as she undoubtedly was at the moment. Instead, I closed my eyes and started making lists of things we'd need to do to get Steph ready for a possibly prolonged stay at the facility.

The most important thing would be making sure that she felt like she was helping. And with her skill set, there was really no way that she wouldn't be. Well, all things considered, clothes were probably pretty important to her comfort as well. A thought that was driven home when she came out of the bathroom nervously, dressed once again in the scrubs from earlier.

Pointing to them, I said, "I know you said the scrubs were comfortable, and you could sleep in them, but if you'd rather, I brought you a couple things as well. They'll be too big, but the shorts have a drawstring, and I thought there was a chance you might prefer something other than a reminder of your medical treatment. Especially if you'll need to wear those to breakfast before we can get you some clothes, depending on how late you sleep."

"Thanks," Steph said, picking up the clothes and disappearing back into the bathroom. When she reappeared a moment later, I realized that I had made a tactical mistake. The sight of her in my clothes made my heart skip a beat. She set her folded scrubs on the dresser, and then put her hands on her hips as she stared at me and my position stretched out on the couch. "Get onto the bed, Steve."

"I'll be fine here, I've slept in much worse places than this. Like the floor of the forest, leaning against a tree behind enemy lines in Nazi Germany."

"And that can't have been comfortable either. But since this is not Nazi Germany, and is, in fact the United States of America in the year two thousand fifteen where it is perfectly acceptable for two grown adults to do whatever they want, you will be sleeping on the bed. You and your sad little blanket can be on top of the sheets and covers if you want, and we can build a pillow barrier between us. But it is a king size bed, there is plenty of room, and it is ridiculous for you to scrunch up on that little couch instead of just sharing the damn bed. Or you can just leave. I won't be able to sleep because I'll feel so guilty if you stay there, in which case you might as well just be in your own room and then one of us will get sleep."

I huffed out a breath and got up saying, "okay. I know when I'm beat, Steph."

By the time I got into the bed and set my shield down next to the side Steph had left open for me, she'd constructed a little line of pillows down the middle of the bed, and I laughed, "you don't actually have to do that."

"Well, honestly, it's a little for your own safety. I'm not a delicate sleeper, especially if I have nightmares, so this way," she stopped and flung her arms out in both directions suddenly and from where she was. Her hands didn't reach over to me so she nodded, and said, "yep, that should keep you safe."

Truthfully, I'd had more than one sleepless night since I'd woken up from the ice, and I knew it was the serum that didn't require me to sleep hardly at all anymore. I certainly could sleep, but I didn't really require it. As such, I was going to just stay awake, and watch over her while making plans that I could start coordinating once everyone else woke up in the morning.

At least that was the plan, but after listening to her toss and turn, sniffle periodically, and whisper occasional apologies for keeping me awake over the course of what was at least a solid half hour, I couldn't take it any more. I reached over slowly, so as not to startle her as she was clearly more upset than I had realized, and picked up the pillows that were creating a barrier between us so I could throw them onto the couch at the end of the bed. Then I scooted toward the middle, staying on top of the covers. When I got close enough, I carefully settled an arm onto her stomach and gently pulled her into me. She immediately rolled so she was facing me, nuzzled her face into my chest, and fell asleep with her next breath. Much to my surprise, I drifted off to sleep without realizing it moments later.


	7. Tests

**Chapter 07 - Tests**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

I woke up feeling deliciously warm and safe, having slept way better than I'd had any right to hope I would. For a moment, I was confused by the fact until I remembered breaking down and asking Steve to stay with me... Then insisting that he also sleep on the bed when he tried to be all proper and sleep on the couch.

I'd half expected Steve to wait until I fell asleep then move back to the couch or possibly even his room. After all, he hadn't seemed too keen on the idea of staying with me. Of course, when I felt something pressing against me that I was certain, being the professional bond enforcement agent I was, wasn't a gun, I realized that maybe he'd been hesitant because he hadn't wanted to pressure me or take advantage of me when I was upset. Honestly, I really appreciated that, and it made me like him even more. It also made me hopeful that I hadn't offended him by asking him to stay.

Still, I snuggled into him a little more, satisfied when he instinctively held me tighter and pulled me more firmly into him. I'd kept my eyes closed, and started to drift off to sleep, when I got that niggling feeling of my spidey sense trying to tell me something. I fought it for a few seconds before I finally gave in and opened my eyes.

As soon as I did, I screeched in fear and surprise. Which I then, to my complete and utter mortification, repeated when the arm around me instantly tightened and Steve pulled me off his side of the bed, somehow making me land gently even while shoving me down and behind him and his shield, ready for a fight. He apparently was one of those people who was just instantly completely awake, because his confusion lasted nanoseconds. Before I could even process my position or his protective stance, he was dropping his shield in front of him and helping me to free myself from the tangle of sheets and blankets I'd ended up in with his other hand.

Natasha was leaning against the wall such that she'd been in my line of sight the second I had opened my eyes. Kneeling facing backwards on the couch so that their elbows were actually on the foot of the bed with their chins on their hands were Clint, Bucky, and Sam. They had huge grins on their faces as they, apparently, watched us sleep. Behind them were a reluctant looking Vision, standing next to the twins and Rhodey who all three looked like they were trying not to laugh.

Steve looked mad enough to spit nails, so even though I was hardly even the slightest bit awake now that the shock wore off and my body realized there was no danger, I stepped between him and his team.

"What are you doing?" I asked in what sounded like a combination of awe and frustration.

"I brought you a change of clothes," Natasha said, pointing to the dresser where I had left the scrubs. The scrubs were now missing, replaced by a new pile of fabric.

"Okay," I responded slowly. "Thank you for that. And the rest of you?"

Bucky said, "I just followed her." The fact that he was holding what I was pretty sure was a harness for Steve's shield told me he'd been in on the whole thing.

Instead of acknowledging that, I just shifted my gaze between the rest of Steve's teammates. I reached Sam last and he raised his hands up in surrender before saying, "Natasha texted me and told me to get in here quickly and silently if I wanted to see something adorable. I have no regrets because you two were adorable, just as advertised. Well, no regrets other than waking Cap up because I don't think I've seen or heard him talk about sleeping that well or for that long in the year that I've known him. And when we were out trying to track down Bucky, we were sleeping in shifts with one of us on lookout, so I've seen him sleep plenty of times!"

"Let me guess," I said looking at the rest of them, "you got the same text?"

They all nodded, and I felt myself nod in response without even meaning to. Turning, I looked up at Steve, who was appeared more resigned and less like he was going to murder someone so I patted him on the chest and murmured, "your turn, I can't deal with this without caffeine."

Then I walked past everyone, feeling their eyes stay on me, I grabbed the stack of clothes, and strode back past Steve once more and into the bathroom.

I caught a look at myself in the mirror and managed to hold in the shriek but not the groan when I caught sight of my hair.

"There's something for your curls in with the clothes," Natasha called from the other room.

Choosing to take the high road and just not acknowledge her, I quickly did my business when I heard conversation pick up in the other room. Slipping out of Steve's clothes, I folded them and left them on top of the little shelf by the shower, quickly washed my face, and brushed my teeth. Then I pulled open a drawer and used some of the unopened makeup I'd found during my exploration the night before.

If this is how the day was starting, you could be damn sure I was facing it with my battle armor, aka mascara, on for courage.

Finally I pulled on the outfit Natasha had left me- a comfortable pair of dark wash jeans with a light blue button down tank top. She'd even included a nice set of delicate lingerie for me to put under it. The bra was an engineering masterpiece that had the ladies looking their best where the v-neck on the shirt allowed them to be on just a hint of a display.

Everything fit freakishly well, so I walked back out and the first words out of my mouth were, "did FRIDAY's biometric scans include a mapping of every inch of my body?"

Steve didn't respond because his was busy staring a bit dumbfounded. When he realized what he was doing, he opened his mouth, then apparently at a loss for words just cleared his throat and walked to the vacated bathroom.

I looked over at a smirking Natasha and bowed my head to concede the point. Everyone then proceeded to just stare at me until I felt so uncomfortable that I blurted out, "I was freaked out, okay? So I asked him to stay, but I swear nothing happened!"

Of course, my luck being what it always is, Steve walked out in that moment. When I turned to look at him with wide, apologetic eyes, he just shook his head with a smile and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"They're professionals at getting information out of people, you didn't stand a chance. I was as fast as I could be, and you held up pretty well. They should know better than to treat a new FRIEND that way though. Now come on, let's go get you some breakfast and some of that caffeine you were talking about. What's your preference? Coffee? Tea? Red Bull?"

"I think you mean lunch, Steve," Clint retorted.

Steve slid that hand once again on to my back as he had the night before and said, "lunch then. Steph needed to rest, and maybe she would have rested even longer if you hadn't woken her up."

Bucky snorted, "you just going to pretend that you weren't asleep too? What did I tell you about finding a dame who'd make staying in bed in the mornings worth it? And you haven't even gotten to the good part yet-"

He cut off abruptly when Steve stopped. Steve didn't have to turn and glare or make a threat for Bucky to know he'd pushed his luck far enough for the moment.

Once we started walking again, we reached the cafeteria quickly. Steve introduced me to the man, Jake, who was taking orders, and I ordered some chicken strips, but thinking guiltily of Ranger, added a salad on the side instead of fries.

No sooner had we stepped to the side to wait for our food than Natasha pressed a giant cup of coffee into my hand. She was watching me expectantly, and when I took a small sip only to smile and take a larger one, she nodded. "I'm sorry for scaring you, I expected Steve to wake up first."

"You know," Something in her mannerisms made me feel like she wasn't actually sorry but was more toying with me. Like a cat with a mouse, so I kept my tone neutral and continued, "apologizing for scaring someone awake by creepily watching them sleep in the form of coffee that is equally creepily prepared EXACTLY how they like it when you shouldn't have any way of knowing that information probably isn't the best tactic."

"I told you I did a background check."

Steve and I picked up our food and I let him take lead to find us a place to sit. While there were empty tables that would fit the team, he chose instead to have us sit at an already mostly full table. When he reached it, he sat me down next to some young guy who looked like he didn't know what to think of Captain America at his table.

Still dealing with Natasha and her whatever the hell plan as she sat across from me, I said, "And your background check included the kind of coffee I drink?"

"What if someone grabbed you off the street and then came in here with a photostatic veil on and appeared to be an exact replica of you? How would we know it wasn't you? We'd probably have to catch them in some little mundane detail that they would assume that we didn't have the time yet to have learned. Like how you take your coffee."

I smiled at the rest of the table, but didn't want to let it go. To Natasha I said, "well it's a good thing I slept last night because I may never sleep again for fear of knowing your enemies have that kind of tech."

"Seems like you have other things to have nightmares about, real things that you've seen and experienced, like Vlatko."

Unfortunately for the poor stranger next to me, he obviously didn't have much in the way of field experience. As soon as the name Vlatko came out of Natasha's mouth in a perfect Russian accent, I reacted instinctively. I reached into the guy's equipment belt and pulled his gun, flipping the safety off with one hand. As I did so, I grabbed his phone that was clipped next to it with the other. Then I backed myself up to a wall with the gun pointed at Natasha. I'd moved faster than I think anyone there expected me to be able to move after the injuries I'd sustained the night before.

That's what happened when you mentioned a name Vlatko's when I was already freaked out.

I slipped the phone I'd grabbed into my pants for the moment, instead favoring a steady two handed hold on the gun. Natasha was smirking, and you could have heard a pin drop as everyone else in the cafeteria took in the situation.

Before the rest of the agents could pull guns on me, the Avengers formed a protective half circle around Natasha and I. Of course, Clint, Bucky, Sam, and Rhodey all had guns drawn, but they weren't pointing them at me.

"How do you know Vlatko?" I ground out.

"I know you saw him last year," Natasha said calmly.

Clint slowly started to move as though he was going to circle around me, and I just shook my head and said, "I don't think so, Hawkeye," while moving my finger a little closer to the trigger.

Clint froze and I shifted myself further away from the group, trying to keep my back to the wall while getting closer to an exit.

Carefully, Steve said, "Steph, I think there's been a misunderstanding. Who is Vlatko?"

Bucky was clearly assessing the situation, and I heard him murmuring in Russian with Natasha, though I was pretty sure Clint could also completely understand. Natasha said something back that I still didn't understand to Bucky.

"Steph, you know what I do," Natasha spoke to me again, this time in a tone like she'd used when I first met her. I didn't know what her game was, but at the moment, I didn't trust her.

"That's not an answer," Steph spat out. "Because you do what Vlatko did."

"Steph," Rhodey spoke up for the first time. "Look, I'm sure you don't want anyone to get hurt especially since we don't know what's going on. I think it is a really, really, REALLY bad idea for you to have a gun in your hands when you're clearly so agitated at the moment."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Steve look at Sam, who I thought had mentioned he was some sort of trained counselor. Steve gave him an imploring look, and Sam nodded slowly then holstered his gun and put his hands up like Natasha had. Slowly he stepped forward and said, "Steph, can you put the safety back on at least."

"No, you're all too fast. I don't stand a chance in a quick draw against any of you, and if you're on the side of someone who had business with Vlatko then I can't trust any of you after all."

"Alright, then tell me about Vlatko," Sam said reasonably.

Freaked out, and feeling the need to consult with Ranger, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the phone I'd swiped. Natasha's gaze shifted to the phone and she took half a step forward.

"Steph, please, don't call them. We're trying to keep this location relatively unknown and they didn't see anything on their way out. I have a feeling Ranger could and would track just about any call from you," Steve begged. "And for the love of God, someone tell me who the hell Vlatko is!"

Four people in this room clearly knew, Natasha, Bucky, Clint, and I. I was too freaked out to share any knowledge at the moment, and I also wanted to hear what Natasha's explanation was before I gave any of my own information away. The other three seemed to be entrenched in their spy ways, also unwilling to talk.

"Vlatko is the name of an SVR agent," Vision spoke. "I know of him from SHIELD's files before the information leak, but there was no active information at the time of the leak. Obviously he hasn't been a player in any of our missions thus far, so I have no new data on him."

"SVR is the new KGB, right?" Steve asked. I was pretty sure he was trying to engage me in the conversation because I felt certain he'd already know the answer to that question.

Still, I nodded my head stiffly, and Sam picked up the thread. "Natasha was KGB trained from a very young age, so she knew a lot of KGB agents and secrets. But she defected, Steph, and you know who she is now, and what she does."

"My Russian isn't perfect, Steph." Steve reasoned, "but she wasn't talking about any plan to hurt you or anything like that."

"Mine is quite good," Mary, who I hadn't even realized was in the kitchen today called out. "I know I'm new, Steph, but all she said was that she dug into your background more last night, and she just finally realized what it was about you that she'd been trying to figure out. She said that you were there when Vlatko went down."

I spared a brief glance over at Mary before turning back to Natasha. Then, something in the way Mary had looked at me, like the world's nicest mom or something, had me looking back for a little longer before turning back to Natasha once more. My finger traced over the safety as I contemplated flipping it back on, but I didn't complete the motion.

Wanda and Pietro had been standing in the middle of their circle, observing, but Wanda finally decided to speak up. "Stephanie, you've been standing here with a gun drawn for how long now. What does your gut say about the people in this room. Do any of them want to hurt you?"

I thought about that for a few more minutes before thumbing the safety on and dropping the gun to the ground. I kicked it away then collapsed down to the floor and put my head between my knees before pushing down on the back of my neck with both hands and trying to keep the cobwebs from closing in on me. I could hear my own labored breathing at the same time as Steve's thundering footsteps strode forward. I heard voices of concern, but I ignored them until I felt Steve kneel in front of me and reach down to place a hand on my back.

"Hey, you're okay. I don't know who Vlatko is, but he's not going to hurt you." I laughed bitterly at that, but he just started rubbing my back. "And I'll get Natasha back for playing mind games with you. She's testing you, seeing what she can shake loose and how you'll react to a variety of situations."

"Come on, Steph," Natasha called out. "Come back and eat your lunch, your chicken's getting cold."

I couldn't even look at her, I just yelled out, "what the FUCK is wrong with you?"

There was some nervous laughter at that, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I stood up, shoving away from Steve, and muttered, "I'm sorry. I wanted to help, I thought I could help. But clearly, I just don't belong with this type of people."

I took off out of the cafeteria and called out to Friday to direct me outside. When I made it out a door, I just ran. I had no idea where I was going to go, I just needed to be away. I kept running until I felt no longer boxed in at which point I stopped. I'd pretty much just been running through the woods, again. And, with no idea where I was, I sunk to the ground against a tree. At least I still had the phone I'd stolen. When I was ready to get up, I could probably figure out a way out of there that wouldn't compromise the base's location.

Yet, I wasn't surprised when the entire team materialized out of the trees around me. Natasha sat down right next to me, leaning her head back on the same tree that I was sitting against. We were touching, all up one side and as she finally spoke and said, "Did you know that Clint was sent to assassinate me?" Then she pulled up one side of her shirt and showed me a scar that was clearly from bullet wound on her left side. "And Bucky actually assassinated someone _through_ me."

"I didn't know that," I said softly, finally hazarding a look completely over at the redhead.

Natasha took the opportunity to drop the one side of her shirt and pull up the right side.

"An appendectomy?" Sam asked puzzled.

"If it had been a little deeper it would have been," I murmured, surprising pretty much everyone in the area. With a sad smile, I explained, "Ranger has a very similar scar."

"People were handed over to Vlatko for torture," Natasha clarified. "His specialty was disembowelment."

A look of understanding passed between us, and Natasha stood, dusted herself off, then held out a hand for me. I took it, and allowed her to pull me up so I was standing again.

Once I was up, Steve pulled me into a steady hug and finally asked, "what did Vlatko do to you?"

"Nothing that bad," I deflected. When no one said anything, I gave in. "Let's see, the first time I had a run in with him, I was trying to get information on him for Ranger at a party. Vlatko grabbed me, threatened me, then slashed my breast to piss Ranger off and prove that he could get to me, even with Ranger nearby."

I was lost in the memories, feeling like I was reliving the whole thing again, especially the fear I'd felt constantly during that time that Vlatko was around any corner waiting to disembowel me. I continued my story at the next incident, "Then I was staying at my ex, Morelli's, place because my apartment had been firebombed in an entirely unrelated incident. Vlatko broke in while I was there alone and left a human heart on a cutting board in the kitchen. With it was a note that promised me he would take mine next. Then I interrupted a terrorist plot of his. That displeased him."

"How much did it displease him?" Steve asked sounding very concerned.

"He was attempting to poison a hotel ballroom full of people by putting something in the HVAC system. I managed to pull the fire alarm so the place would be evacuated. He hit me in the face, which busted up my nose and mouth pretty good. After that, he forced me out a window onto a ledge and used me as a human shield of sorts to get out of the hotel. At some point he got my neck a little with the knife he was holding to it, mostly to make the point that I was completely at his mercy."

Steve tilted my chin up and fingered the small scar he found there. "What happened to him?" he asked.

"We were on top of this sky bridge thing that connected the hotel to the fourth floor of a parking garage. Vlatko basically threw me over a concrete wall into the parking garage. When he went to follow me so that he could keep using me as a shield, he met up with Ranger."

"And?"

I looked away and said, "the official story is that Vlatko jumped off the fourth floor rather than face Ranger and wound up being about an inch thick."

Translation: Ranger threw him off the fourth floor of the parking garage.

Steve waited for me to meet his eyes so that I could see that he was perfectly able to read between the lines and had no problem with the reality.

"I'm sorry, Steph," Natasha said, and this time it felt like an actual, genuine apology not more mind games. "None of that was in the reports, you actually weren't mentioned at all, though Ranger was in some of the more highly classified files. I knew there was something, and it was bothering me. No matter how much I searched I couldn't figure it out. While I was watching you sleep, I thought I remembered seeing the profile of a woman in a photo from the scene that could have been you. I figured if you were there, it was more just as a bystander. I thought you would be upset about seeing a body, which would make it a good thing to poke you with to see how you handled such situations. And how you were at withholding information you'd been asked not to talk about while emotionally compromised. I didn't realize he'd involved you in his twisted psychological warfare."

When I looked over at the rest of the team, Bucky cursed, "you've actually still managed to keep some back. You know even more."

"He toyed with me because he knew I was close to Ranger and he had a massive grudge against Ranger. I know that whole story, or close to it. I won't tell you that; it's not my story to tell."

I kept my head up and my face honest, but resolute, meeting each of the spies and Steve's face until they were satisfied in some way I couldn't identify. They looked at each other and apparently reached some sort of decision because Steve wrapped his arm around my waist and started walking us in the direction from which I'd come.

Finally unable to stand it any longer, I peeked up at Steve and when he smiled and winked back at me, I felt my jaw drop in surprise. "So what happens now?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm still pretty hungry," Steve said. "So I was thinking we'd try the whole cafeteria thing again. I'm fairly certain that Natasha is done messing with you and will just want to be friends now. She's also going to start trying to win you over again because she will be remorseful over what she chose to use to test, and knows that she did a lot of damage to your fledgling friendship. From the things you've said about your experiences as a bounty hunter, I'm sure she could have chosen something less traumatic but still effective to test you with. She'll probably also try to get you to date me. All of that means you'll probably be getting gifts, favors, bribes, and all that jazz from her."

I cast a quizzical glance over at Natasha, and she nodded happily. "You did well; you sensed danger of an unknown presence in your room within a minute from being very very asleep while recovering from an injury. Then you picked up on friendly, suspicious, and threatening behavior appropriately while keeping yourself safe. You listened to reason and stayed in control while being analytical. I don't think you would have made it out of the cafeteria had you tried though, if we wanted to stop you. Probably even if you'd actually called Ranger. So, we'll have to work on that. Steve's right, I want you to stay though, and I'm sorry I hurt you. I hope I can win your friendship at some point."

I had no idea what to say, but Clint was already talking anyway as he said, "and you identified an employee who clearly needs to go through some of his training again! He let you get his gun and his phone."

I groaned and said, "now I feel even worse for him, I can only imagine how tough you're going to be on him."

"You should not have been able to get his weapon," Steve said firmly. "That makes him a liability until he learns to protect it."

"We need to get Steph a gun though. She shouldn't have had to take one to defend herself," Bucky pointed out.

He looked at me accusingly and, I said, "hey! I have a gun! I take it with me when I go after skips and everything now! It was just in my purse and my kidnappers didn't bring it when they grabbed me. I'm guessing that was probably because: one, they didn't want me armed and two, they were cops, after all. And you probably don't want me to have that gun here as I'm pretty sure it isn't one hundred percent on the correct side of the law... I don't think. I mean, Hector gave me paperwork that looks like a permit for it, but I think Hector could make legitimate-looking paperwork from toilet paper and a crayon."

"If you're going to be here, you need to be able to protect yourself," Wanda surprised me by insisting. "For now that means a gun."

"For now?"

Wanda gave me that smile, and everyone just seemed resigned to the behavior. I figured that meant it was normal, and probably didn't mean anything sinister. In fact, I was hoping that anything approaching unfriendly behavior was behind us now.


	8. Mending Fences

**Chapter 8 - Mending Fences**

 _ **Steve's POV**_

We walked back into the cafeteria, and it seemed as though every employee who wasn't on shift was waiting for us. As soon as they saw Steph, they started applauding and cheering. While Steph stood there and gaped at the reaction, the kitchen staff signaled to me that they had fired new lunches for us, so I guided Steph over in that direction.

This time, instead of sitting at various partially occupied tables, we sat with the rest of the team as one big group. We hadn't yet gotten enough done for the day, and after sleeping in and the debacle with Natasha and Steph, it was going to need to turn into a working lunch.

People were still looking at Steph and beaming, giving her thumbs up if they caught her eye, so she asked in a whisper "What is going on?"

"You got the drop on the Black Widow, AND you surprised her," Clint leaned over to whisper conspiratorially. "They can only hope to one day achieve one of those things at most, and you managed to do both at once with no real training. You're pretty much their hero now- that story will get told for years and years- way past the day you die."

"There is something seriously wrong with all of you," Steph said. That response worried me until she laughed and added, "I kind of like it though. Still, I pulled a gun on an Avenger in The Avengers facility, capital T, capital A. Shouldn't that make me Public Enemy #1 or something? Or at least someone they _don't_ like?"

"Nah," Bucky said, reaching over and picking one of the tomatoes Steph had been moving to the side of her salad off her plate and eating it, easily anticipating and dodging my attempted hand smack. "Natasha fucks with everyone's head when they sign on. It's like part of the hiring process, and you came back from it the fastest."

"Only because you came and got me," Steph reasoned.

"But you were worth going to get," Pietro shot back. "Which means you must be important."

"Some of this logic seems awfully convenient to me," Steph continued arguing.

"Just go with it," Sam advised sagely. "From one non-powered, non-serumed person to another, that's my advice to you."

"Alright," Natasha started. "Now that we know Steph seems solid, let's get started. Just generals for now as we'll have to go through specific files after this."

She stopped and looked at me to continue, so I started at the beginning, mostly focusing on Steph as she was unfamiliar with the basics of the case. "When we discovered the HYDRA infiltration within SHIELD, we took out a huge base of their power in DC. Unfortunately, they had several more leaders and bases of operation, which we've spent the past year taking out. Now that we've finally hit all the major ones, there are some new factions struggling to secure a foothold and power.

"One of these, possibly the most troubling, is being founded by a former SHIELD specialist. He's highly trained and was probably one of the best all-around operatives we had at SHIELD other than Clint and Natasha. He always had top marks in everything other than people skills- though he was good enough at that to have some people very, very high up clear his evals and trust him. He took out one of the highest ranked agents before he was discovered. It seems, for the time being at least, that he has chosen Trenton for his base of operations."

"Why Trenton? Why not New York, Philadelphia, or some other larger city?"

Clint cleared his throat and looked at me for permission before fielding that one. "There's a few reasons for that. Obviously until recently, the Avengers were based out of New York, so he may have hoped to remain unseen for longer so that he could grow his base without being discovered. Trenton is still close enough to conduct business there regularly without having to actually live in Stark's backyard. And, as a bonus, there is already a significant organized crime presence and gang presence in Trenton."

"The mob and the gangs," Steph mulled it over. "So their types of activities are already rampant and an uptick might not be registered right away."

Not sure how she was going to take this next part, I cleared my throat and met her gaze before saying, "we also have reason to believe that there is a decent amount of corruption in both the areas of politics and law enforcement in Trenton. It is probable he either already had or was able to easily acquire an in with those groups. This would allow them to grow rapidly but also to cover their tracks better."

"Having a cop in your pocket can let you set someone up or just generally point investigations into dead ends. Stage something as a gang crime or mob hit or even a random crime of opportunity that isn't actually one of those things," Steph said in understanding.

"Right," I agreed. "We have some files we'll ask you to go through and offer us your thoughts on. Some are probably innocent, and some won't be. We won't bias you by telling you upfront which we think is which. We're going to ask you to figure that out yourself. Just tell us what you already know about them, and maybe how your gut reacts to them with any new information we give you. Some of them may not have been recruited yet, but will definitely be on HYDRA's wish list, so everyone will be checked over repeatedly."

"And some might be in someone else's pocket. You should know that Connie from the bonds office has mob connections- she's not in herself, but her family is. It's a connection that I've been able to delicately use in the past. If you need to get in contact with that element for some reason, I might be able to arrange that. Connie's family has ways of getting in touch with the others. Always iffy involving them, but at the very least, they'll want HYDRA gone too," Steph said cautiously, clearly unsure of how we'd take that information.

Personally I was always glad to know those things up front, and I was willing to make some compromises if the situation ended up calling for it. All things equal, however, I'd prefer not to do business with the mob, and it seemed as though Steph was of a similar mindset, so I squeezed the hand she had under the table reassuringly.

"What?" Sam teased, "no gang connections you can hook us up with?"

"No, I, uh, have what would best be called a tumultuous relationship with the gangs of Trenton. The Comstock Street Slayers, in particular would rather I permanently disappeared, and would probably enjoy being the ones to do it. They actually put out a hit on me a while ago... And brought someone over from California to kill me. He's dead now, and a friend of mine did some serious damage getting me out of there after they kidnapped me. For the time being, they don't seem to want to kill me, but I don't wander into their territory without backup and serious fire power. I'm sure some of them wouldn't mind ending me if the opportunity presented itself, and I don't think they'd take a meeting with me or anyone I vouched for."

There were a few beats of silence as we tried to process that, taken aback by the story being presented in such a matter of fact manner. Only Natasha, as the one who had done the now infamous background check, seemed unsurprised by the information.

"Let me get this straight," Bucky said. "You at one point had an entire gang after you, hit man and all, AND you've had an SVR agent after you? All within a couple years of each other? You weren't kidding when you said you'd have stumbled across HYDRA anyway, were you?"

"Sadly, no," came Steph's response.

We spent the rest of our meal talking about various strategies that we thought HYDRA would be most likely to use to get back on their feet. Once we had finished, we all got up, and walked to the conference room that was currently the central location for all of our HYDRA intelligence. Along with the vast array of computers, we'd set up photos of known HYDRA agents on the wall and displayed their status.

Steph wandered along it, studying every picture carefully, and I felt a chill all the way to my bones when she stopped in front of Brock Rumlow's photo and stared. I looked over at Natasha, Bucky, and Sam with wide eyes that I was sure showed the panic I was feeling at the very thought of the two of them having met.

Clearly catching onto the fact that something was making the three of us nervous, Rhodey casually sidled up to Steph and nudged her a little. "Another ex?" he asked.

"No," Steph replied distractedly. "It's just…"

"Yes?" Rhodey asked patiently a few moments later when she hadn't elaborated any further.

With a sigh, Steph turned to the group, pointing at Rumlow's picture, "when did he die?"

"He was buried in the collapse of the Triskelion- SHIELD's headquarters in DC when one of the giant helicarriers fell on it, Steph. He's been dead for over a year," I replied calmly.

"Oh, well it must not have been him then."

I kind of froze up at that because people in our business seemed to have an uncanny way of not being dead when you thought they were, myself included. And no one had recovered his body, though so many of the bodies were unidentifiable, I'd just assumed we never find his. But I'd definitely considered him to be dead.

"Who did you think he was?" I asked.

"I went down to Stark Street, a few weeks ago to pick up a gang banger with a bunch of Rangemen as backup for the reasons I previously mentioned. I stayed in the car with Tank while the takedown was happening, but when they brought him out, I jumped out to open the back door for them. There was a guy, standing off to the side down the street a ways, watching us. He was just staring at me, and it kind of creeped me out. He looked a lot like this Rumlow guy you have on your wall here, but with more scars. The scars were almost completely covering him though, and if you say this guy is dead, then the guy I saw wasn't him."

"Creeped you out?" Wanda asked, "or set off your 'spidey sense'?"

"I'm really regretting slipping and calling it that to you all," Steph said with a sigh.

Wanda was being different levels of weird than she usually was about Steph, so I figured it was an important question, and pressed. "Forget how silly it makes you feel, which one?"

Steph rolled her eyes but finally mumbled, "spidey sense."

"Well, fuck," I said very clearly.

"Language!" my entire team yelled at me, causing me to roll my eyes.

Because she looked startled, I said to Steph, "I was trying to get the team to cut down on their cursing at public events in general, and when we were out on a mission one time, I accidentally slipped and corrected Tony for cursing even though it didn't really matter. Now they won't let it go, even though Clint and Natasha are the only ones who were even there when it happened!" I noticed a little bit of a twinkle in Steph's eyes and said, "don't you even think about it! You should be on my side!"

"Well, I'm definitely not one with the right to criticize anyone's language," Steph said playfully.

I smiled back then said, "neither am I, it's just when we're at PR events or places where there might be audio or video recordings of us that I think we should all be more careful." It was a conversation we'd had among the team several times, so I moved on turning to Natasha and Sam and saying, "but you know what I'm really unhappy about?"

Natasha nodded her head and said, "the possibility that he's not dead and is working with Grant Ward to revive HYDRA."

"I will be seriously disappointed if I find out that man is not dead," Sam agreed.

"Honestly, I was probably just wrong that it was him and found him creepy because we were on Stark Street and he was staring so much," Steph argued.

I looked around at my teammates, and we reached an unspoken agreement to let it go for the moment. It wasn't worth arguing with Steph over when we had so much ground to cover, but I for one felt as though it was something worth following up on aggressively.

 _ **Steph's POV**_

I spent the afternoon going through the highest priority files the Avengers had on the people of Trenton. And it seemed that they had compiled a pretty complete list of the number of files that were waiting for me to go through them the next day was any indication.

Still, we finished up for the day at a reasonable time, with Steve escorting me back to my room so I could freshen up a little before our date. Of course, it wasn't like I'd be changing given my lack of clothes, but I could shower, wash my face, and take a little more time getting ready than I had with the team waiting on me earlier.

By the time I stepped out of the shower, there was a pretty decent amount of steam, and I was feeling lighter. Hearing a knock on the door, I wrapped a towel around myself as walked over to it. "FRIDAY, do I have a peephole that I'm just not seeing?" I asked, tentative in my first direct interaction with the AI, though I was confident that she'd been hard at work, silently assisting our progress that afternoon.

Seemingly in response, a piece of the wall that I hadn't even realized was a screen lit up and showed me a security feed from the hallway. It was Natasha.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to think of that. She seemed to be holding some bags, so she might have some stuff for me, but I just wasn't certain that I wanted to see her. Sure, she'd explained WHY she had done what she had, but it still smarted.

Her apology had, however, seemed sincere, and to Wanda's point, my gut did tell me to trust her. I appreciated the fact that she had knocked and seemed to be patiently waiting, rather than breaking in as she had this morning.

From what I could tell, the team was very close, and Steve and Natasha seemed especially so. It was also my understanding that Natasha was the second in command, regardless of whether or not there officially was a chain of command. In that case, it did make sense that she would need to be the most strict and reserved in the face of someone Steve had a blind spot for. And, if they really were close, then holding a grudge wouldn't work in the long run. She'd be around a lot, and either I'd cause irreparable strain to the team, or Steve would show me the door because of it.

Uninterested in either of those outcomes, I took a deep breath and decided to start mending fences by opening the door. In the split second she realized I was going to let her in, I saw what I was certain was genuine surprise cross Natasha's face. Of course, being a spy, she quickly schooled it into a look of open friendliness that she obviously wanted me to see.

When I gestured her in, Natasha quickly stepped into my room as though she wanted to get in before I changed my mind. Once she was inside, I shut the door.

"Uh, hi," I said, knowing it was awkward but better than thanking her for knocking. "Did you need something? I'm kind of..."

I trailed off, gesturing vaguely at where I was clad in only a towel. Natasha laughed softly then huskily said, "I wanted to apologize again, in private. I am extremely sorry for the level of distress I caused you earlier today."

"But not for causing me distress," I noted.

With a shrug, she looked away. In that moment, I realized that Natasha probably didn't have many friends. It was entirely possible she didn't have any other than the few, like Steve, who she'd met through work. And given the type of work she did, I doubted that she'd been willing to really and truly trust more than a couple- with good cause, it turned out. And that made my heart sad, the same way most of the Merry Men had when I first met them.

So I did the only thing I could think to do and hugged her, waiting for her to relax before I said, "I hardly know him yet, but thank you for protecting him. Steve's lucky to have a friend like you."

Natasha seemed unsure of what to say to that, so she didn't comment any further, just cleared her throat and said, "I brought you a change of clothes if you'd like. And some other things I thought you might want to use to get ready."

So saying, she started pulling things out of her bag. Over a mini-fashion show of the few choices of shirt and jacket combos she'd brought me, a tipple of what was probably the best vodka I'd ever tasted, and a joint effort in taming my curls, Natasha and I started to bond against all odds. When I heard a knock on my door a second time, I flung it open without reservation to reveal a smiling Wanda. She looked between Natasha and I carefully before nodding her head in apparent satisfaction at whatever she saw in us.

As Natasha settled back in to finish up with my hair, Wanda nervously said, "I'm sorry that I'm not much help with all this. But I did bring you a little something." She reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a beautiful necklace. It was a pendant with a stone that appeared light blue in color and had metalworking delicately framing it. In fact, it appeared to be an exact match in style to the necklace she wore, just with a different color in that center gem. I looked at it curiously, and she explained, "I got it when I got my own years ago, though didn't know who it was for until I met you. I think of mine as a good luck talisman, and I hope it will be one for you as well."

If Natasha knew something about that, she didn't say anything, so I just smiled and said, "thanks so much. I'll take good care of it, and get it back to you in the morning."

"No, Stephanie," Wanda clarified slowly, "it is yours to keep."

"I couldn't possibly," I started, only to be cut off when Natasha tugged not so gently on my hair. I took that as a hint and continued, "thank you enough for this- I could always use a little more good luck in my life."

Natasha circled around, apparently done with my hair, and sat in front of me while pulling out makeup. But she met my eyes first, and smiled in gratitude that I'd conceded on the issue of the necklace. When I looked at my watch nervously, Wanda volunteered to let Steve know I'd be a few minutes late. As soon as the door shut behind her, Natasha said, "she's a little weird, and she and Pietro are more than a little wary of the rest of us. They're afraid we won't accept them, so it is rare for them to make overtures like that. You don't have to wear the necklace if you don't like it, but I appreciate that you took it. They could use a friend."

I studied Natasha a little before casually replying, "I think you all could, and I actually really like the necklace. It just looks like it might not have been cheap, and I mean she hardly knows me. I just didn't want her to feel obligated to give me a gift for some reason, though honestly she keeps hinting at things that I have no idea what she even means by them."

"That is her way, you'll get used to it," Natasha said before gesturing for me to be quiet. How in the world she knew that Wanda was about to walk back in, I had no idea, but she was right. With the last of my time getting ready, I asked Wanda how she was liking becoming an Avenger since she hadn't been in the business for nearly as long as Natasha.

What I found out was that Wanda enjoyed the work, and the ability and freedom to practice with her powers as freely as she wished- though she rarely delved into anyone's mind other than Pietro's.

"I'd imagine everyone's mind is different," I mused.

"This is true," Wanda said.

"Feel free to use mine whenever you'd like," I offered. Natasha went utterly still in front of me. Although I'd been able to tell that she wasn't entirely comfortable with discussing Wanda's powers, this was the first outward sign she's given of her wariness of the topic. If possible, Wanda looked just as taken aback, which made me think that she couldn't really predict the future- or at least not completely and reliably.

"You'd welcome me to your mind?" she whispered in question.

"Well, I look at it this way," I reasoned. "Your powers saved my life- I very possibly wouldn't have made it here to have Dr. Cho work on me if not for what you did for me. Also, I'm not a terribly private person. I don't keep many secrets on a personal level, and if I'm going to be working with you all, then I'm going to be trusting you with professional secrets. You'll find I have a tendency to blurt out any of my more embarrassing unfiltered thoughts anyway, like that thing about Steve's arms yesterday, so I don't mind you having access to them. And practice is valuable, so there you go. You don't have to do it if you want, I'm sure my mind is a scary place, but I don't mind if you poke in when you'd like. For practice, or just to say hi."

Both women stared at me thoughtfully, and finally, I was reasonably sure it was into my mind, Wanda replied, "thank you. I will not betray the trust you have shown me in this."

I smiled at her and then stood up, "did Steve happen to tell you where I should meet him? Because now that I think about it, I don't think he said."

Wanda tapped the side of her hand, "I just informed Pietro you're ready. He'll let the Captain know."

I helped Natasha pack up her stuff and thanked her for her assistance with a hug. Then I turned to Wanda and did the same, holding up the necklace after and asking her to put it on me. As it settled onto my chest, I thought I felt a warm buzz as though my skin recognized something about it. Before I could think too closely on it, there was a knock on my door. I opened the door and stepped out to greet Steve, who simply raised a brow when Natasha and Wanda came out behind me and wished us a good night as they quickly left.

"You look great, Steph," Steve said once the other women were out of sight. He leaned down to press a kiss to my cheek, and I caught him by surprise, turning my head and capturing his lips with mine. I slid a hand up to the back of the neck to hold him there as I deepened the kiss a little, grateful for his enthusiastic response.

When I let him go and stepped back, I smiled up at him and with a shrug said, "now we can enjoy our date without that hanging over our heads." Steve laughed and held his arm out to me.

As I linked my arm with with his and rested my hand on the top of his forearm, his free hand reached over and settled on top of mine. "Works for me," Steve said before guiding me to a garage. He gave me a more assessing once-over, clearly sizing up my outfit before saying, "how do you feel about motorcycles?"

"I feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy things for them," I replied. "I've even got my license."

Steve stopped walking next to a bike, and I eagerly ran my hand along it with a smile brightly fixed to my face as I grabbed up the helmet from the back seat. Steve took his off the front handlebar, and gave me a matching grin before saying, "then I'm glad Natasha gave you a jacket, long pants, and close-toed shoes."

After settling himself on, Steve reached back to offer me a hand for balance as I climbed on behind him. Then I scooted forward, wrapped myself around him, and mentally hoped that this sub shop wasn't all that close to headquarters.


	9. Getting Familiar

**Chapter 9 - Getting Familiar**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

Steve and I settled into a booth across from each other and ordered meatball subs (two for Steve). Once the waiter had walked away, Steve sounded a little too casual for it to be realistic as he provided, "so Natasha stopped by for a visit."

I set my elbows on the table and rested my chin in my hands as I grinned over at him. "Yep. She helped me get ready for the date, and we cleared the air a little. Please don't worry about that."

"I'm not good at not worrying, but I'll try."

"Well, that's all I ask." I said, "honestly if you were going to worry about anything, I'd go with whatever riddles Wanda is talking about that seem to involve me. Or, you know, you could worry about HYDRA, though I suspect you've done that enough for one lifetime ."

"I trust Wanda, and she's always been a little eccentric, but she swears you'll be fine and that whatever it is is a good thing, so don't worry about that. We'll find out when it is time for us to know."

I hummed in acknowledgement and decided that would just have to be good enough for now. "So impromptu trip through the woods aside, was today a pretty standard day for you?"

"Well, I'm usually the first awake, with my teammates nowhere in sight, so it started out a little differently than normal."

"Ah, the other elephant in the room. I'm really sorry if I-"

"Whatever you're thinking, don't! You didn't offend me, scandalize me, or anything like that; I was more concerned with being unable to keep my hands from wandering. I was glad to help, and I ended up being _extremely_ comfortable with the situation until our rude awakening. That honestly was the best night of sleep I've had in possibly my entire life. It was no bother."

Deciding to take him at his word, I nodded. "And the work?"

Steve rubbed his cheek as he contemplated the question, "in general terms, yes, but not the specific case. Natasha is lead on our HYDRA work at the moment because I'm a bit too close to the issue and that seemed best. But there are often other projects and cases to go through and I'll work them in much the same manner. And I do review all the HYDRA intelligence routinely."

"And when there's nothing else pressing?"

"Then, like I said before, I like training and maybe some sketching."

"That sounds pretty normal," I responded as our subs were set in front of us.

For the next few minutes, we peppered light questions back and forth, in between bites of food. As we talked, I discovered I was correct in thinking that Steve had a very sharp, quick sense of humor, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

With every playful tease we traded, I realized that the crazy chemistry I'd felt in the club was more than just physical attraction. Steve and I really fit on every level I'd found so far- other than the part where he worked out for fun. But honestly, he in no way seemed like he would judge my fitness choices, and he seemed to like real food just as much as me, so that wasn't even a big deal. And I was reluctantly working out pretty regularly these days anyway.

We sat and talked for a couple of hours, without being hassled by the staff, but when we realized that we were the only ones there and they clearly were hoping to go home soon, we hastily stood. Steve quickly took care of the bill, and from the look on the waiter's face, generously compensated the staff for their kindness.

When we made it to the motorcycle once more, Steve started to hand me my helmet before pulling it away as I reached for it. Doing so instead knocked me off balance such that I landed against his chest. With a grin, he used my surprise to pull me into a deep kiss.

After a couple of minutes, he pulled back and said, "want to take the scenic route home?"

I tried to respond, but couldn't. Clearing my throat, I tried again saying, "that sounds wonderful."

With a grin, Steve reached out and zipped my jacket shut again, instructing me to just hold on a little tighter if I got cold. That would sound like a complete line if it wasn't also one hundred percent accurate. The man was a furnace, and it was a little chilly out so late, so squeezing into him definitely warmed me up. Especially coupled with the vibrations of the bike.

I allowed myself just to focus on the feel on Steve in front of me, moving with him into and out of turns while ruminating on the twist my life had taken in just a couple of days. Because I wasn't really paying attention, I was startled to notice that when Steve turned off the engine we weren't at the facility, but rather a clearing by a small pond of some sort.

"Where are we?" I asked, more curious than actually concerned.

"We're on private property just past the outskirts of the Avengers facility property, so we should be relatively alone," Steve replied as he climbed off the bike only to swing himself back around so he was facing me in the seat.

"Oh yeah?" I put on my best helpless damsel voice and teased, "what ever are we going to do out here un-chaperoned, my dear Captain?"

"It's Steve," he replied with just a bit of a predatory growl, sliding me gently forward in the seat and up into his lap. "And I thought I'd get to know you a little better, if that sounds okay to you."

"It sounds perfect," I breathed as his mouth fixed onto mine once more.

Our lips brushed as though they were getting reacquainted with each other, or Steve was trying to commit them to some sort of touch memory. As my mouth opened to his, I felt those strong hands of his on my hips drawing me even closer until I was flush against him. Although we were pressed about as close as we could be together, Steve kept his hands firmly on my hips, not allowing them to wander.

At least until my hands did.

When my hands slid up the inside of his shirt, on top of his undershirt, to trace along what felt like some of the most insanely powerful ab muscles I had ever been in the presence of, Steve's wandered around my hips to my backside and got familiar with the lay of the land there.

Eventually feeling brave, I allowed myself to pull out Steve's undershirt to get my hands direct contact with a piece of his gloriously warm skin. I was cautious, waiting to see if he'd object, but was pleased when I got a very appreciative sound in return.

Then my luck continued as I felt Steve's hands slide upwards to the small of my back with his fingertips running experimentally along a strip of bare skin they found there. Wordlessly I pressed myself closer and flattened my own hands and reached for more skin to put under them. Apparently, Steve took that for the enthusiastic consent it was and FINALLY allowed both hands to fully wander my bare skin.

I got very distracted when he shifted his hands to my front and allowed his fingers to linger. Unfortunately that was all they did, so I decided to take the metaphorical bull by the horns and make the next move. I knew we wouldn't be having sex in the forest (at least not yet), or possibly anywhere for a while, but I wanted to get at least a little more action before the night was through.

Abandoning my own exploration I reached under my top, grabbed his hands in mine, and pulled them up to my breasts. He hesitated for a moment, so I imploringly whispered, "just second base."

Thankfully that was all the encouragement he needed to get into the next step. When we broke apart a few minutes later, I was out of breath and floating on a wonderful haze of desire. After a few calming breaths, I asked, "why here?"

"I know the landowner wasn't going to stumble across us and get upset, and no one would spy or make up excuses to barge in on us. Plus I wouldn't be tempted to go any farther than what we just did tonight."

I must have pouted in response because Steve let out a deep chuckle that almost sent me tipping over the edge by itself then used his hands on the side of my face to tilt my head forward so he could press a kiss to my forehead. Realizing that was all I was getting for the day, I slid off Steve's lap and into my spot on the bike seat. When he settled in his seat again, I slid my arms around him. He reached one of his hands down and grabbed my right, sliding it up over his heart. I left it there, where I could feel his steady heartbeat, and snuggled myself in even more comfortably for the ride back.

As Steve started to drive once again, I thought, upon further reflection, that it was very nice to be dealing with a guy who wasn't being pushy. Obviously he was attracted to me and I to him, and Steve had admitted to not being opposed to premarital sex or the like, so I knew I wouldn't have unbearably long to wait. He just wanted to get to know me a bit and make sure the relationship we were both contemplating would be built to last.

I wasn't expecting, but was pleased to find, no one to be waiting for us when we returned. In fact, we easily made it past security- though that shouldn't have been a surprise given who Steve WAS- and through the hallways without coming across another Avenger or more than a couple security guards.

To be honest I wasn't familiar enough with the facility to have made my way back to the room in which I'd been staying without a guide. Still, I was fairly certain the route was significantly different. I didn't fully realize what was going on until we walked through an oversized living area and Steve held open a door down a short hallway for me. I stepped through it, and when Steve followed, he immediately stopped to place his shield, which had been affixed to his bike, on a spot on the wall clearly designed for this purpose.

I tried not to be too nosy as I looked around what was obviously Steve's bedroom. Still, I couldn't help myself, and Steve seemed happy to leave me to it. He stepped into a door off to the side and closed it behind himself. When he came back a couple minutes later, he was changed into the same outfit he'd slept in the night before.

He walked to another door, presumably a closet, and reached in. When he came back out he had an extra blanket in his hands, he laid on top of the bed and pulled the blanket over himself. Then he looked at me, where I'd yet to move a muscle, and pointedly reached over to the other side of the bed and peeled back all the layers of blankets so I could slide in and still have that blanket barrier between us.

His expression was warm, friendly, and inviting when I met his gaze, so I wandered over to the first door he'd disappeared behind. Entering, I found that it was an en suite bathroom, and a gorgeous one at that. Set to the side of the generous countertop were the clothes I'd slept in last night as well as the toiletries I'd used that day. I quickly washed my face and brushed my teeth before scurrying out into the bedroom.

This time, when I tried to settle into bed, Steve just immediately slid over and pulled me comfortably into him. He whispered to FRIDAY to turn out the lights, and once we were in the darkness, I asked, "why?"

"I think we both need it," he answered honestly. "I don't know what it is about you because I shouldn't trust you enough to be able to sleep around you yet, let alone feel the things for you I already do. But when you're in my arms it's just so perfect. Like a part of my soul slotting into place, and you seemed happy with it last night. If it's too presumptuous of me-"

"No," I hastily said, "it's perfect. Thanks for letting me crash here."

I felt another, sweetly gentle, kiss press against the back of my shoulder and allowed the last of the tension to melt out of my body as I drifted to sleep once more.

 _ **Steve's POV**_

I awoke feeling comfortable and at peace for the second time in a long time, and definitely for the second time since moving into my room at the new base. Shifting a little, I pulled Steph more tightly against me once again and watched her sleep for a while before allowing myself to drift off once more.

When I woke up the second time, Steph was watching me as she tried to slide back into bed without waking me, putting herself under my blanket but on top of the covers this time. I knew for certain she was not a morning person, but she still smiled brightly at me after noticing I was awake. She was facing me, so when I drew her in, I couldn't resist kissing her.

The low moan she made could only be described as one of desire, so I deepened the kiss. Feeling her trying to rock against me, I pulled back and caught the hem of her shirt in my hands and paused to look at her in question.

"May I?" I asked.

When she nodded her head emphatically and lifted her arms, I whipped her shirt off and fixed my mouth to her breast before her head was even completely clear of the clothing. The strained sound she made in reaction was beautiful and I immediately wanted to hear her make it again and again. Looking up to keep a close watch on her expression, I worked to figure out what she liked as I played with one nipple in my mouth and the other in my hand.

A gentle nip sent her hips more frantically into motion, so I rolled myself more completely on top of her. I put one of my legs between hers but made sure to keep my full weight off. I almost lost all my resolve when she started grinding against my thigh, but I instead distracted myself by bringing my mouth back to hers. In between kisses, I told her how beautiful she was and whispered encouragements to her.

Watching her face as I pinched her nipple a couple minutes later, I was enthralled by the look of ecstasy that crossed her face as her orgasm took her. Enough so that when she thrust up against me again as I leaned in to catch her cries in my mouth, I was taken completely by surprise by my own release.

We lay there quietly, hands still wandering, but lethargically, murmuring softly to each other for several minutes. Finally drawing apart again, I whispered, "I don't think I've done that since I was a teenager- I need to change. I'll be right back."

When Steph snickered in response, I retaliated a little by tickling her as I climbed out of bed. I walked over to my oversized dresser, which was usually more than half empty, and opened the drawer I kept my boxers in, only to be surprised to find a few sets of bras and panties in there as well.

Pulling out what I needed, I walked over to the bathroom calling over to Steph who had burrowed back into bed, "it looks like Natasha left you some things in the drawers, feel free to dig around and find out what your options are. I need to get in a workout at the gym, but you're welcome to join in and use the gym, just watch us all train, or stay here if you'd rather."

I jumped in the shower quickly to rinse off, well aware of Bucky's enhanced sense of smell which would clue him in to our morning activities. When I stepped back into the bedroom, I was pleased to see Steph dressed in some workout clothes and pulling her hair into a ponytail.

I gave her a quick kiss as she slid past me into the bathroom and another when she reappeared a minute later.

"Got everything you need?" I asked.

"You mentioned being able to get me a new phone at some point. Is that something that we could maybe do today?"

"Absolutely!" I replied, horrified to have forgotten. "I'll mention it to Natasha when we see her, and we can probably have one to you by breakfast. Is there anything you need before we go to the gym?"

"Coffee?" Steph asked cautiously as though she was afraid of being a bother and unaware of the lengths I knew I'd already go to in order to give her whatever she asked for..

I slid my arm around her waist and pulled her into me and out the door as I said, "I think I can manage that."

When we walked out of my room and down the hall, Steph stopped dead at the site of the team sitting around with their morning drinks, waiting for me.

"Now I know why Natasha made us all leave the team lounge last night," Sam teased with a kind smile. "Steve was bringing home a _girl_."

"Does this mean you're our new Mommy?" Clint piled on.

"Are you telling me that you think of Steve as your father?" Steph easily retorted.

When Bucky snorted in disgust at that, I shoved at the back of his head as I walked past.

"More like grandfather!" Pietro called out.

As Steph and I walked into the team's kitchen and I set about getting her coffee, I whispered, "if you could avoid setting them up like that as often as possible, I'd appreciate it."

Steph giggled in response, which made me think she wouldn't be going out of her way to help me on that. It was a good thing I found most of the jokes funny myself. That thought was confirmed by her whispered, "something tells me you can take it and probably dish it out as well."

I gave her a confident grin, pleased she'd picked that up already as most people assumed I was a stick in the mud who couldn't take a joke. After pouring Steph some coffee, I picked up a banana and a couple apples, holding them out to her. From her small sigh, I gathered she wasn't in the habit of eating first thing, even when working out, but was appeased by the fact that she pointed to the Granny Smith apple and took a bite as soon as I handed it to her. Grabbing my own coffee and the remaining fruit, I led the way back out to the main room and through to the doors leading back into the facility.

The main room was four stories tall in the center, with a network of stairs and catwalks throughout. Each member of the team had a hallway with a couple rooms off of it, with Wanda and Pietro choosing to share. A few quarters were still unoccupied at the moment, but that would change in time if we added more people onto the team.

As we stepped out, Wanda and Pietro corralled Steph to walk with them. I could overhear them explaining the living situation, and tuned it out when Natasha sidled up next to me.

"Steph told me you were mending fences and making her feel more comfortable before our date, thanks for that," I started.

Natasha just waved it off and asked, "did you have a good night? And a good morning?"

"Yes, we did." I replied shortly, not inviting extra questions at that time. "Do you think you could get her a phone today?"

Natasha tapped a few buttons on her phone before reassuring me that it was handled.

Throughout my workout, I was constantly aware of where Steph was, but managed to otherwise proceed as normal. Wanda, as probably the least physically fit of the people on base seemed to have taken Steph under her wing for the morning.

The two spent some time on the treadmills together, with Steph at a decent running pace compared to Wanda's slower jogging pace. After they were finished, Steph ran herself through the paces of some strength training that it looked like someone with a more hard-core background (probably military given what I knew of her coworkers) had done a good job of modifying to Steph's ability level. Seeing that she seemed comfortable and had someone with her who wouldn't make her feel she needed to push herself too far out of pride made me able to focus on my own business.

By the time I'd finished, Steph was nowhere in sight, so I walked back to my room figuring I'd ask FRIDAY for her whereabouts after I showered. I didn't have to go looking- instead I found Steph clearly fresh out of the shower spreading her makeup out over the dresser to use the mirror that was over it.

"I had FRIDAY tell me when you were on your way back so I could make sure the shower was free and I was as out of your way as possible by the time you got in," she explained. "Don't worry, I have a towel under this, so I won't spill."

"Are you telling me I'm smelly and need a shower?" I asked with a laugh.

"Nope, just figured that was probably your routine," she answered, proving her denial to be the truth by pulling me completely into her for a long, slow kiss.

"Well, I appreciate the effort, but I wouldn't have brought you here if I was concerned about you being in the way. You won't be- it's only really been a few hours, but I like having you in here. You fill an emptiness I didn't realize was haunting the place."

Steph looked pleasantly baffled by that, so I gave her a quick kiss after she murmured about being glad to be there. Once I pulled away, I wandered into the bathroom to get ready for the day. When I came out, Steph was dressed, lightly made up, and patiently waiting on the bed she had haphazardly made.

"Contrary to what you may think," I said, casting a sly look at her out of the corner of my eye, "I don't really ever make the bed."

Steph relaxed a little at that, so with a laugh I took the cover and flung it around a little.

"You know, you didn't have to wait in here," I said, gesturing at what I noticed was her badge on a nice clip now, presumably courtesy of Natasha, rather than the cumbersome lanyard. "You're free to move around as you wish- FRIDAY will keep you from going anywhere restricted."

As Steph took the hand I held out to her, I fingered the pendant necklace she'd been wearing the night before.

"It was a gift from Wanda," Steph explained. "For luck among possible other Wanda-y things."

The twins had remained mostly withdrawn, so it pleased me to hear of Wanda making such a friendly overture. Steph chatted a little about the things the Maximoffs had explained to her about the team and the staff, asking a few more detailed questions about operations. It filled the time walking to the cafeteria and waiting for our food comfortably.

When we reached the table the rest of the team was sitting at, Natasha slid a phone in front of Steph saying, "here you go. Consider this a replacement for the one I smashed. It's programmed with your same number, contacts, etc. It also has all your text messages and voice mails though your inbox is full."

Steph only nodded her head in gratitude, so I cautiously asked Natasha, "did you read and listen to them?"

"No," Natasha said calmly. "But I really want to know how someone could have gotten that many voice mails in just a couple days."

In response, Steph just hit a few buttons so that our table could hear the messages on speakerphone while digging into her breakfast.

"Steph! This is Marion. I heard you made out with a stranger at the club and when he wouldn't put out, you took home Gus Chianni!"

"Stephanie! This is Annette! Did you really have sex with a hot guy on the dance floor of Orlando's?"

"Stephanie, Grace Cooley here. I hear you've turned into one of those black widow serial killers-"

It cut off as Steph hit the button to delete the message and play the next one, and we watched in sick fascination as Steph did so repeatedly at just the first few words of several more. Some she still played through.

"Stephanie, this is your mother." Steph huffed out a breath and rolled her eyes before appearing to brace herself as though she was about to be struck. "Do you have any idea how many phone calls I've received? I'm going to have to unplug the phone soon if this nonsense doesn't stop! Why me? Why do I have to have a daughter who can't just get a husband, have kids, and stop working? Or at least have a normal job? The personal products plant is hiring again, you know. Betty Garvey's daughter doesn't act like a slut in public. Just so you know, she says she knows someone to put in a good word for you-"

Steph took the phone off speakerphone at put it to her ear so she could keep listening and pushing delete even as everyone stared at her.

"That vile-sounding woman is your mother?" Wanda asked. "She would speak to her daughter that way?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Steph replied. "Unless I was somehow switched at birth or something; I've never done a DNA test. Honestly it would be the best thing I've ever heard if she wasn't my biological mother. She has never understood or accepted me."

Bucky met my eyes and I just shrugged. I felt guilty for ruining Steph's reputation, but I wasn't sure how to fix it. Apparently, Steph was reading my expression which I hadn't schooled enough because she pointed a finger at me, "don't even think about it. This is in no way your fault. That messed up little town just loves talking about me, and they say things like that all the time. This is basically a weekly occurrence these days. They've started unfounded rumors about me and each of the Rangeman men, even the married ones, at various times. Or me and ALL the Rangemen- also unwarranted, to be clear."

Before I could say anything in response, Steph, who had been listening to messages still while explaining went pale. "What is it, Steph?" Natasha barked out.

When Steph didn't respond quickly, Natasha snatched the phone out of her hand and pushed the buttons to replay the message she'd been listening to on speakerphone.

"Steph," a man whispered. "This is Eddie. They've brought Grandma Mazur in on trumped up charges to flush you out, so she's refusing to call you. I'm working on it, but you might need to come in and answer some questions. Bring a lawyer- a good one, not Albert. Maybe Ranger can lend you one of his. They're going to try to bring you in for killing Chianni even though they don't have a body. I'm doing what I can, but I think something's going on here at TPD, and I don't have enough pull."

Steph stood on shaking legs and turned to me, "Steve, I need to go to Trenton."

I could hear the others arguing to wait and come up with a plan, but the look on Steph's face told me if I didn't help, she'd go on her own, so I nodded my head and took her hand in mine as we walked out of the cafeteria.


	10. Girlfriend?

**Chapter 10 - Girlfriend?**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

I could hear the others protesting, but was relieved when Steve just grabbed my hand in his and started jogging with me as soon as we left the cafeteria. He didn't offer any platitudes or try to give me false hope, he just radiated confidence that bolstered my own.

When we reached the garage, we rushed over to the bike we'd taken the night before. This time, Steve didn't have his shield. "I'm going to make some calls on my way in," he said indicating his helmet even as he handed me mine. "I know someone who can make sure you have a good lawyer with no trace of Avengers affiliation. I'm also going to call Ranger and have him meet us. I hate to do this, but my hair isn't dyed and I'd rather not risk being recognized and have HYDRA-"

I cut him off saying, "that's fine, Steve. Just drop me off somewhere Ranger can get me, and I'll be fine. You don't need to hang around or anything- I'll call and let you know how it goes."

Steve interrupted me by smashing his mouth into mine in a wild, possessive kiss that had my panties soaked in a minute flat. When he pulled back, he said, "I'll be waiting for you in your apartment or at Rangeman. I'm not coming back here until I can bring you back with me."

"I know I still have files I need to-"

"Fuck the files, Steph!" Steve cried out in frustration. "I already care about you more than those files. If it wasn't for the fact that those files are what got you here, I'd hate them for causing this whole mess. I'm not leaving you to deal with this alone. Hopefully I'll just generally never be leaving you, but for now we can put qualifiers on it if it makes you believe me!"

I cut off whatever else he was going to say by throwing my arms around him and going for my own, equally heated kiss. A few minutes later, Steve pulled back and said, "Steph your grandmother-"

"Would totally be okay with me being a few more minutes late because I was kissing a hot guy like you. No joke, that's about how she'd phrase it, along with colorful, complimentary speculation about the size of 'your package' and your sexual prowess. But yes, let's go."

We climbed onto the bike and rode along at a fast pace. I tried not to think too much about what Grandma Mazur was feeling and experiencing, locked away for I didn't even know how long in either jail or an interrogation room.

I startled a bit, but thankfully not so much so that I overbalanced us when I heard Steve's voice loud and clear in my helmet. He started again after a pause, this time with, "I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you that we had a communication channel between the two of us. The team is ahead of us on the jet, is it okay if we join them? It will get us to Trenton in minutes rather than hours."

I nodded my head because I had been practically in tears before Steve had interrupted my train of thought, not thinking about the fact that he couldn't hear me. He must have felt it though because a minute later, he cut over to an access road and told me to hold on tight. A ramp and the back of the jet appeared out of nowhere and he easily drove us up and into the bay.

Bucky stepped forward to make certain I was sure-footed as I climbed off with the ramp still closing behind me. Steve simply swung off then picked me up and sat with me in his lap, yanking our helmets off.

"What's Grandma's first name?" Sam asked.

"Edna," I croaked out.

Steve started whispering encouragement to me, and when we approached Rangeman, Clint knelt in front of me. When I met his gaze he calmly said, "we have lawyers on the way, but they're going to take care of Grandma first. We want to make sure she doesn't get charged and has been treated properly. If they separate you for questioning or to arrest you, you don't say a word. Even if you think they're a friend, you might be being recorded or you might just be wrong about their loyalty."

I nodded, but Bucky pressed, "say it, Steph."

"I don't say a word without a lawyer present."

Before I stepped out of the jet, Natasha spoke up. "You're making someone nervous, Steph. It's a good thing, just keep your head. Even if you think we've taken too long to get you out of there; we're not leaving you behind."

When the jet landed and the ramp lowered, I stood and turned to press a quick kiss to Steve's lips. Then I righted myself and walked off the jet to the hoard of Merry Men standing there in their full combat uniforms waiting to accompany me in a show of loyalty that had me choking up.

I felt confident that in any other situation, the guys would have been poking fun at me about Steve. As it was, we went downstairs in silence. Ranger helped me into his Turbo and everyone else provided an escort for us.

No sooner had I walked into TPD than Dorsey stepped forward and said, "Stephanie Michelle Plum, you're under arrest for the kidnapping of Gus Chianni, officer of the Trenton Police Department." He proceeded to cuff me even though I was already inside the station, and over numerous protests from Merry Men as well as a few other cops. I was guided away as he was reading me my rights and processed for booking by Robin who I was fairly certain wasn't dirty.

Then they took me to interview where I sat for hours without saying a word. Eventually, Robin came in and silently took me to the restroom, not leaving me alone but giving me as much privacy as she could. When I got back to the room, there was water, but I left it untouched.

Anytime I managed to drift to sleep while I waited, Dembrowski or Dorsey would come in and question me. After their fifth time waking me up, I'd started to drift off again and in walked Morelli.

"I always knew you'd wind up here if you didn't quit your job, Cupcake."

I called more strongly than ever on my inner Ranger to remain blank faced. I was hoping this meant that they'd run out of time and were making a Hail Mary pass in an attempt to get me to talk.

"Where'd you get the money for the fancy lawyer? You never had money as a bounty hunter. You turning tricks now? Finally let Manoso turn you into a whore for himself and his buddies?"

I felt a little piece of me die inside at the realization that Morelli was that much of a prick, but I remained impassive.

Morelli leaned in close, mouth pressed right into my ear as he said, "what's it worth to you to get out of here? The boys do miss you."

I couldn't hold back the wince at that, and Morelli saw it. He pushed his hand into my hair and used it to yank my head back. "You were lucky to have me then, and you'll be lucky to have me again."

He mashed his mouth into mine and I tried to struggle away, feeling the bloom of blood in my mouth as my lip was cut on my teeth when I refused to open my mouth and he pushed harder. The door burst open what felt like a lifetime but was probably only a minute later admitting Eddie and a man in an extremely well cut suit.

No one said a word as the man in the suit helped me to my feet and Eddie undo my handcuffs. The stranger kept a hand firmly on my upper back, propelling me out of the station and, to my shock, into a waiting limo. When I slid in, I was startled to see Tony Stark waiting on the backward facing seat across the way from me with a strawberry blonde woman in impeccable clothing sitting next to him.

Yeesh. If that guy was a lawyer, he must have been expensive.

Unfortunately, I must have said that out loud because Stark burst out laughing. "If he wasn't a lawyer, what else would he be?"

As he spoke, the lawyer (which it seemed he was) shut the door behind me and the limo started moving.

"Maybe someone paying bribes? Though that also would have been expensive."

"We're not in the habit of leaving people who go out of their way to help the Avengers either on their deathbeds or in jail, Ms. Plum," the woman said kindly. "You've been cleared of any wrongdoing and records of today's false arrest have been wiped completely clean."

"Well, I appreciate that..." I trailed off looking at her questioningly and decided to try, "Ms. Potts?"

I received a smile and a nod before she said, "call me Pepper."

Mr. Stark pouted and said, "it's Mrs. Stark, actually. No, I don't like that. Pepper. Just call her Pepper. And I'm Tony, so don't you dare Mr. Stark me, Captain America's girlfriend doesn't call me by anything other than my first name, got it, Missy?"

Taken aback, I wasn't too sure where to start. "Got it, Tony and Pepper, thanks. I'd like it if you called me Steph. As far as 'girlfriend' is concerned, I don't know if Steve... I mean... We just started-"

Tony cut me off, "Cap clearly said 'girlfriend', are you calling him a liar?"

"Ummm, no? It's just that we only just met and started dating, so maybe he just called me that because it was easiest?"

"Trust me, Steph. You haven't seen Tony and Steve interact yet, and thankfully we'll be sparing you that today as Tony and I can't leave the limo because we don't want anyone to figure out who paid for your lawyer." She said the last part while pointedly looking at a pouting Tony, and I figured they'd had the conversation multiple times already that day. "Anyway, my point is, once you see them interact, you'll realize that dubbing you his girlfriend is the least 'easy' thing Steve could have called you. Even as urgent as things were Tony managed to give him a hard time."

Tony muttered something I couldn't quite hear, but thought might be something along the lines of, "not as hard of a time as she probably gives him," given how hard Pepper elbowed him.

Tony brushed that off and fixed me with an extremely focused gaze. "We got your grandmother out of jail first; it took so long because she was carrying illegally. In the end, they had to drop it because they kept her too long without actually booking her. They got too distracted and excited when you came in. From what I understand, your mother took her home. Now, that business is out of the way, tell me everything, Cap's Girlfriend!"

We pulled to a stop, and I looked out the window to see the Rangeman building, so I responded with, "I'm Steve's girlfriend, not Captain America's, but gee, look at that. This is my stop, gotta go, bye! Thanks for the lawyer!" I slid toward the door, but paused long enough to to say, "Tony? _Everything_ wasn't your fault, okay?"

I hopped out of the car as quickly as I could while still being somewhat graceful, and waved at the driver who hadn't made it around to me yet. Then I hustled into the Rangeman lobby and with a quick wave at Cal behind the front desk, I dragged myself over to the elevator. No sooner had I stepped through the doors, than I was wrapped up in Steve's arms. I held on, and when I heard us reach our destination, let Steve pick me up to move me while burrowing even deeper into him.

"You still give really good hugs," I finally said.

"I still very much like giving them to you," Steve replied.

Stepping away just a smidge but staying inside Steve's arms, I straightened up to see a bunch of Avengers and Merry Men staring at us with various expressions of glee on their faces. I rolled my eyes and threw my hands in the air saying, "you could at least pretend to give us a tiny bit of privacy!"

"Ha!" Ranger laughed dryly, "I had to go check on Grandma Mazur when she came out. Do you have any idea how many times she pinched my ass?! I don't have to do anything more for you today!"

The Avengers laughed in surprise, but his employees just winced in understanding because Grandma was legendary. I'd hoped she'd leave Ranger be after the time she purposely walked in on him in the shower, but it had only made her worse. Natasha's phone beeped, and she pulled it out. "Pepper says 'I approve,' Steve, and Tony says that the ride was too short. He didn't learn anything other than yes, she is your girlfriend, which he already knew. He wants you to send her back out so he can question her more."

Steve's arms had tightened around me reflexively when Natasha said the word girlfriend and pulled me back into him hard. He laughed at the last part and said, "tell him there's not a chance of me doing that, so he'll just have to try harder next time."

Looking down at me, Steve asked, "are you okay?" while tracing a finger over my split lip more gently than I had realized he was capable of being.

I looked down at the floor, but Steve's big hand caught my chin and forced me to meet his eyes with mine. In them, I saw concern and fear, but no anger at me. Letting out a shaky breath, I nodded my head. Taking a resolute step back, I looked at the room at large. "How long was I in there?"

"Twenty hours," Clint answered apologetically. "It took longer than planned because they booked you right away and tried to move you to heavy duty, maximum security prison right off the bat. The lawyers had to fight that first then the very basis for the arrest warrant."

"Juniak got you a judge in the middle of the night," Ranger added. "One that stayed in and kept his staff there until the whole thing was sorted out. You must be exhausted, come on. Ella set up a spare apartment for you to crash in for hopefully at least a couple hours."

I trailed after Ranger, pulling Steve with me using a death grip on his hand to do so. Once Ranger opened a door for me, I murmured my thanks, noted the spread of baked goods on my way past the small kitchen, and pulled Steve straight to the bedroom. Inside, I merely pointed at the bed, walked into the bathroom, did my business, washed the ink off my hands, and pulled on the clean Rangeman uniform Ella had left me.

Walking back to the bedroom, I gratefully noted that Steve had placed his boots by the side of the bed and climbed under the covers so we were in the same layer this time as I climbed in. I snuggled into him, closed my eyes, and willed myself to sleep.

 _ **Steve's POV**_

Watching Steph walk off the roof with Ranger and his men, knowing she was almost certainly about to be arrested was one of the most difficult things I'd done. As soon as we left the lot, I'd been on the phone with Pepper pleading my case and spelling out exactly what I needed. Of course, she'd been with Tony when I'd called, so I had to explain the whole thing to him as well. But when they immediately agreed to help, with only minimal teasing on Tony's part, I was grateful.

Between the two of them, they had lawyers crawling over Trenton on Steph's behalf, and that of her grandmother, so quickly even Ranger seemed impressed. Still the process seemed interminably slow, especially because Ranger informed us that Steph had been arrested, not just taken in for questioning as soon as she'd stepped foot inside the police station.

By one of the cops who had kidnapped HER.

Within just a few minutes of that announcement, Natasha had been hacked into the police station's camera feeds. They no longer even controlled the state of off or on, Natasha did. At least I'd had something to watch while pacing the length of the giant conference room Ranger had set up for times when multiple agencies were involved in some operation he was working.

After a few attempts each, everyone had stopped asking me to sit. In return, I made sure to eat when they set food out for me. For the most part, Ranger and his men went about their business with just occasional updates on the lawyers' progress.

Finally we got word that the lawyers had been successful and were almost to the police department with appropriate paperwork, and I began to breathe a little more easily. I watched Steph begin to fall asleep again, and winced when the door burst open, as it had every time, waking her once more. A few Rangemen had stopped in for the news from the lawyers, and I went completely still when I heard them say the man who walked into her interrogation room to interrupt her sleep was Morelli, her ex.

You could have heard a pin drop in the room as he started talking. My gut rolled as he basically propositioned her in exchange for her freedom, but I was proud to see her not give anything away. Unfortunately, her fortitude only pissed the man off. Apparently when Morelli forced his lips to hers I made some sort of sound because almost every man in the room took a step away from me.

Bucky stepped forward and latched onto my arm to make sure I wasn't about to run over to the police station or something, and Natasha said, "you can't punch out or kill a cop, Cap."

Ranger spoke up from the sidelines, "not right now at least, and not for that. Hopefully you'll get the chance someday, but for now it'd just piss Steph off if you got arrested over that."

I breathed out a sigh of relief as two more people entered the room and Steph was released.

When I saw the cut on her lip, I knew I couldn't let it go, so I said, "I'm not going to punch him, but Natasha, I want you to anonymously send that video and pictures of Steph at booking and upon release to the Trenton PD's internal affairs division, the public safety committee, state troopers, and the FBI." Someone gave a low whistle so I shrugged and explained, "none of them will do much more than give him a smack on the wrist, but he'll be sweating for a while. Oh, and make sure her lawyers have a copy too."

I watched Ranger as he thought that over before nodding his head in agreement. Then he told Natasha, "give me a copy on a drive, and I'll make sure Congressman Juniak gets it as well. He considers Steph family, and he'll throw some more political weight around to make sure it isn't buried without any action."

Regardless of what I assumed was an experience even more stressful than exhausting, once she got back, Steph slept in my arms comfortably in the small studio apartment Ranger had supplied her for the purpose. I was unable to drift off myself until I heard the door click open just a little and watched a metal arm reach in and set my shield on the floor next to the exit. Knowing I'd be able to protect her now, I allowed myself to fall asleep, waking every hour or so when Steph started getting restless so I could soothe her back to sleep.

When Steph woke completely, her stomach growled and mine answered almost immediately causing Steph to erupt into giggles.

"Come on," I said, pulling her up with me. "Let's get some food in us so we can start the day."

"What meal is it even?"

I pulled out my phone and said, "we'll call it lunch- you slept about five hours."

"Yeah, they kept me in an interrogation room, and woke me up anytime I drifted off."

"I know, Sweetheart, Natasha got into their cameras. I kept an eye on you the whole time."

"You didn't-"

"Have to," I cut in, trying to keep my patience at her inability to accept how much I cared for her already. I was trying to give her space to come to the realization on her own, as she'd had shit taste in men before me- some of which I'd witnessed only a few hours ago. "And I know I wasn't obligated in some way, but, Steph, I really DID have to know you were okay. There's something inside me that was just fixated on needing to have that information."

"You told Tony Stark that I'm your girlfriend and you sat around for twenty hours watching me sit in a room that was empty other than me for the majority of the time. We're really doing this, aren't we?"

"Well," I replied slowly, "that's really up to you, but yes, I was hoping that we were. That we _are_."

My heart was in my throat as I watched Steph's face. Thankfully, it only took a split second for a wide smile to permeate her face and her to startle me by actually leaping into my arms while laughing. I was amazed by her ability to be so open and caring after the ordeal she'd been through, and I couldn't stop myself from pressing a firm kiss to her lips as I easily held her in my arms.

Although there was plenty of passion behind it, the kiss was mostly one of happy celebration. When I pulled back, Steph was still smiling widely, so I pressed another on the tip of her nose as I lowered her to her feet. Once she was steady, I rested my forehead on hers and said, "I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear earlier; I figured it was obvious when I brought you into the Avengers quarters. They're all the family I really have anymore, and I wouldn't have taken you there if I wasn't serious about this thing between us."

"I didn't want to presume, so I thought maybe you called me your girlfriend to make it easier to convince Tony to help." I let out a dry laugh when I heard that, and she giggled before continuing. "Yes, Pepper had pretty much the same reaction; I like her. And Tony too, actually, though Tony seems… energetic."

With a sigh, I simply said, "Tony is a lot of things, and yes, energetic is one of them. He seems enchanted by you though, wanted me to send you back down so he could figure you out more."

Steph shrugged and said, "maybe another time."

I had made the decision to pursue my own happiness weeks ago after my talk with Sam, and after meeting Steph, I'd done some self-evaluation and made sure I was ready for it so as to not lead her on. But hearing her say those words really hit home for me just how much time I was planning for us to have together, and it made me feel somehow lighter. While I'd been excited while anticipating a battle, and had some good times with friends since waking up, it marked the first time that I really looked forward to life in general since waking up after the ice.

Feeling a buzz in my pocket, I reached in to pull out my phone and saw a message from Sam asking if we were awake. I sent my answer as I started digging through the fridge to see what other than the pastries was available to us for breakfast. Steph was picking on one of the biscuits, but after more than 24 hours without food, she'd need something more substantial to gradually pick at and eat over a longer stretch of time as she could stomach it.

My phone alerted a second time, and I pulled it out and read it before walking over to where my shield was sitting by the front door. I picked it up, slid it onto my arm, then walked back to Steph. Carefully, I placed my shield-clad arm around her waist and pulled her into my side and started walking us toward the door. "Sam says that there's food in the conference room for us. Apparently Ella's been cooking up a storm since she found out you were back and hadn't eaten anything."

"I love Ella," Steph said as we stepped on the elevator. "I always ask her to adopt me, but I think she thinks I'm kidding for some reason."

"Something about her reminds me of Mary; is that why you calmed down during the Natasha incident when Mary talked to you?"

"I agree- they look nothing alike, but there's something soothingly maternal about both of them. It makes me comfortable," Steph said with a slight shrug. "And yes, I think that's why she helped me calm down a little."

"I know what you mean," I responded, leaving unspoken the fact that I hadn't gotten that feeling from the voicemail Steph's mother had left her and to which team had partially listened.

The elevator doors opened to the third floor, and we were immediately greeted by the sounds of excited voices coming from the conference room. No sooner had we walked in than Lester was calling out, "you know, Steph. The first time I met you, you said you didn't like getting shot, and you didn't like getting arrested. I told you that meant you didn't know how to have fun. Well, it looks like you finally figured out how to have some fun- you did both in just a matter of days, Beautiful!"

"Ha ha," Steph said dryly. "I still don't like doing either of those things!"

"Yeah, but you're getting good at it, and that's just about as important," called Bobby. "Plus, seems like you've found yourself a new batch of friends, and more, who know how to have TONS of fun."

"Alright, alright. Everyone get it out of your system," Steph called out.

The men all seemed to take her at her word, calling out various jokes and such one at a time, largely about Steph and I, but none of them overly offensive. It was only some friendly teasing. Steph just laughed and gave each one a hug in turn. When they were done, she nodded her head in satisfaction then walked back over to me and put her arm around my waist and leaned her head on my chest when I moved my arm back around her. She only stayed there momentarily, however, as she rushed over to help Ella when the woman arrived pushing a cart heavily laden with food.

Before I could move to help the women, several of the other men had, so I wandered over to my team. "Sit rep," I commanded.

"No real change, Steve." Natasha said from where she was casually leaning against a wall. "Steph's out, as you clearly know, and she appears to be doing much better after her nap. Not much more we can do at the moment, so I'd say we take her back once you've both eaten and she's feeling up for it. We've still got a lot more files to go through with her and research to do before we make any moves here, but it does seem like we managed to keep our presence in Trenton unnoticed, which is a good thing."

"And no one has connected us to the lawyers yet?"

"No," Bucky said. "Though some are questioning the money side of things like that last detective did. Most seem to assume Ranger funded the lawyers though."

An hour later we'd eaten, and Steph had made the rounds saying goodbye to everyone again, including Rex. I had a Rangeman duffle bag in each of my hands that Ranger and his men had provided for Steph filled with things from her apartment. As Steph walked up the ramp in front of me, Ranger called out to her, causing us both to stop and look back at him.

"Babe, you've been shot and spend a 24 hour period without food or enough sleep within a couple days of each other. I put some vitamins in the bag for you, please take them. It'll help your body recover more quickly by filling in some missing nutrients."

I looked back at Steph in time to see her execute one of the most exaggerated eye rolls I'd seen her pull off yet, but when she was done, she huffed out a breath and nodded. Looking back over my shoulder, I met Ranger's intent gaze and inclined my head to tell him that I would do my best to see that she did. At least for the next couple of days.


	11. Inhumans

**A/N:** Today's my birthday! Leave a review? #shameless Also, keep your eyes peeled because I may just post a second chapter for you later TODAY!

* * *

 **Chapter 11 - Inhumans**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

I was relieved to set foot in the Avenger's jet this time and know that I was on my way back out of Trenton. I'd taken a few minutes during my meal to talk to Grandma Mazur on the phone, and she seemed to be taking the whole thing surprisingly well. Rather than be upset by getting arrested or having to stay in jail for so long, she thought the whole thing was a hoot. She told me that it was just another item that she could cross off her bucket list. Personally, I was happy to have her keep crossing items off, since she seemed to add them in at an even faster rate. I figured the odds were low that she was going to leave this world to visit Grandpa Mazur in that big all-you-can-eat buffet in the sky while she still had things she wanted to do.

On Grandma's recommendation, I'd elected against an in-person visit as my mother was fit to be tied. Maybe in a couple days, I'd get Steve to give me a ride back into town and see if my mother had calmed down at all. But, in the meantime, I wasn't in a rush.

It was my third trip in the Aven-Jet as Clint called it, but my first time flying in it where I was in anywhere near the correct state of mind to be looking around at my surroundings. Steve insisted on me buckling in for safety's sake, citing the fact that I was tired and weak. Because of that, I couldn't move around freely. As such, my head and gaze were darting around like crazy, trying to see everything. I had about a million questions, but I didn't want to bother anyone with them, so I managed, just barely, to keep them contained.

When I looked up, I noticed the amused gaze of each team member on me, and I rolled my eyes, "oh, come on. You can't tell me you didn't all think this was cool when you saw it for the first time!"

"Well," Rhodey said, "compared to Stark's jet, this is downright utilitarian. Did you know that he has a stripper pole in that jet of his? Or at least he did before Pepper took it out. He even had flight attendants who were also willing to dance. Those were the good old days."

"I have absolutely no idea what to say to that other than, no, I didn't know that." I replied, fully conscious of the fact that I was goggling at him.

Natasha reached over and smacked Rhodey upside the head, then told me, "you say, 'Rhodey, you're an idiot. Pepper probably saved Tony's life,' and you smack him like I just did. Take a shot if you'd like- he doesn't have his armor on and it takes a few seconds to assemble around him if he calls it. Helmet goes on last."

Now my bewildered gaze was firmly planted on Natasha, "oooookkaayyyyy...?"

Honestly I couldn't tell if she was joking or not. From the pilot seat, Clint called out, "she's not joking, Steph. Don't let this crazy bunch scare you off. Some of us are normal."

"Didn't you fight off swarms of robots with a bow and arrow in a flying city a couple months ago? A bow and arrow, Clint!"

"Yeah, I know, it doesn't make sense, but I really like it!"

"And didn't I see video of you in the battle of New York using some kind of grappling hook arrow to fling yourself off the roof of a building and crash through the windows into a board room?"

"It was awesome! I'm still so happy someone got that on HD video! It's my screensaver on my computer."

"I'm normal," Sam tried.

I snorted out a laugh, and Bucky said, "in Sam's defense he probably is the most normal one on this jet."

"I am perfectly normal!" I argued. "I don't go running around as a superhero fighting aliens or blowing up giant helicarriers! I have a job, I work it, and when my mother isn't out of control, I go to dinner at my parents house at least once a week. I think I'll skip this week though."

"I'm sorry," Sam argued. "But how many times has your apartment been blown up and/or set on fire? And how many cars have you totaled? No offense, but I think Vision might be the most normal of all of us."

"None of that was my fault!"

Everyone just snickered, and when I looked over at Steve, he looked so happy to see me getting along with his teammates that I just had to give him a soft smile and blow him a kiss.

"You're going to be sickening, the two of you. Aren't you?" Pietro said in his thick accent.

"I think it's sweet," Wanda cut in. "And yes, they always will be."

Rather than being thrown off by it, I just looked over at Wanda and grinned. What could I say, I mean, her weirdness was growing on me. Plus, her use of the word "always" made me hope that she could see at least some portion of our future together and it was a long one. I thought I heard her echo the word "always" in my head again, like a promise, but I wasn't used to having her in my mind yet and I wasn't certain. I could have just imagined it.

Still, I took it as a good sign, and happily went back to looking around the jet. Clearly sensing how difficult it was for me to contain the questions, Steve stood and started walking around explaining what some of the stuff was. There was a stretcher, which I was informed had been used after I had been shot, as well as heavy duty medical gear. Sam actually got up and showed me the contents in detail "just in case" since Bobby had told him about some of the more advanced aid training he'd been working on with me.

There was a section on one side with lockers for each team member with extra uniforms and gear for them all. Noticing that they were all just mixed together in a line, I asked, "no girls corner and boys corner?"

"It's more space efficient just to lump them all together," Steve said. "And as we're on a jet, space efficiency is important."

"Huh," I said, looking at both women. "That doesn't bother you?"

"No," Natasha said plainly. "My body is a weapon, and I view it as such first and foremost. Plus, they're all too scared of me to try to sneak a peek without permission- unless I'm bleeding and need aid but then they're usually too busy providing said assistance. And really most of us have gotten enough battle wounds around the others that there isn't much we haven't seen."

I looked over at Wanda and she just shrugged, "even if they weren't too afraid of me as well to allow their eyes to wander without permission, I could just instantly make them forget what they saw."

Huh. Hard to decide which woman was my hero based on those answers alone. I'd have to think up some sort of rating system. Both women smiled at me enigmatically, and I realized I'd spoken out loud and they were willing to accept the challenge I'd inadvertently made.

"Wait, aren't I supposed to be your hero?" Steve asked teasingly.

"Nope, you can be my boyfriend or my hero, but you can't be both. You choose."

"Boyfriend," Steve chose without hesitating. "Although so far you've proven yourself to not really need a hero anyway. You take pretty good care of yourself."

"Damn right I do!" I crowed, "I've been working on it."

"And you're about to get a whole lot better," Wanda provided. When I simply raised my brow in question while letting out an impatient breath, Wanda capitulated enough to say, "soon."

Before much longer we were back on the ground at the New Avengers Facility, and as we stood to get off the plane, Steve asked me, "how are you feeling?"

"Exhausted," I answered truthfully.

"Okay, I know Dr. Cho wants to look you over if you don't mind, just to make sure you're still healing up okay given how stressful the past thirty hours have been. Then maybe we'll just call it a night early? Grab a quick bite to eat and then try to catch up on the rest of the sleep you missed?"

"That sounds like a marvelous plan to me," I said.

While I wasn't excited to be back in the medical facility, I was at least glad to at least be doing so under my own steam. I thought about protesting when I realized Dr. Cho was going to treat me in the Avengers' big mission room again, but one look at Steve and the rest of the team told me it would be a wasted effort, so I didn't bother.

I was pleasantly surprised to find myself dropped off with Dr. Cho then told that they'd be waiting for me in the cafeteria, clearly giving me privacy.

"You know, the others are plenty good at keeping me on my toes, you don't have to feel the need to contribute," Dr. Cho teased as she patted the exam table.

"Well, I figure you should treat some regular people who don't have a death wish too. Make sure you don't lose your bedside manner for all types of patients."

"That's very considerate of you."

"I try. Do I need to change or anything?"

"Not at the moment, I'm just going to take your vitals while you tell me about what happened."

I poured the whole experience out to her, and Dr. Cho made appropriately sympathetic noises at the right moments while flitting around me. She probed gently at my lip, then asked me how I was feeling otherwise, and I truthfully answered that I was tired more than anything else.

"Okay, well. Go get a hearty dinner, as many hours of sleep as you can manage, and I think you'll feel much better again in the morning. I'll be leaving around mid-day tomorrow, so if you're going to have another crisis, can you try to do so first thing in the morning? Trans-continental travel is a hassle without having to reschedule."

With a laugh, I promised her that I'd try not to need her again at all, and then allowed FRIDAY to guide me back to the cafeteria. For dinner I had a delicious plate of lasagna, and when I was too tired to finish it, Steve did for me before taking me to bed. Try as I might, I couldn't get anything more than some kisses out of him, as Steve insisted that I needed my rest. Given the speed at which I dropped off to sleep, though, he may have had a point.

 _ **Steve's POV**_

I stayed awake for an hour, just listening to Steph breathe and making sure that she wasn't going to be plagued by the same restlessness she had been earlier. When it seemed that she was sleeping peacefully this time, I pulled her into me even more closely and let myself sleep as well.

I wanted Steph to eat again before we did anything else, so our first order of business was breakfast and the rest of the day, including workouts, was to be rescheduled accordingly. When we walked into the cafeteria the next morning, most of the support staff was in there ahead of the morning shift starting. The dull roar of conversation stopped the instant people set eyes on Steph, and realized that she was once more in the facility, even though she clearly wasn't a new hire. She shifted uncomfortably under my arm, so I just pulled her more firmly into my side.

Natasha, as my second in command, stepped forward. She waited until the eyes shifted to her warily before she called out, "This is Ms. Plum. You probably remember her from when we had to search for her a couple days ago. In addition to bringing in a person of interest for us in our HYDRA case and being Captain Rogers's girlfriend, she is continuing to help us and we ALL consider her a friend. Get used to seeing her around."

There was nervous murmuring throughout the room at that, and I chose to guide Steph over to the line of chefs who were eagerly anticipating our orders.

"They're not really going to call me Ms. Plum, are they?" she whispered.

"On shift, yes. Whoever you choose to get to know and whatever you tell them you want them to call you off shift is fine," I explained.

"What can we make for you, Ms. Plum?" Mary asked on cue.

Steph looked at her and said, "Mary, you definitely need to call me Steph. Do you have pancakes?"

"Of course we do! Just plain? Or we have blueberries, strawberries," Mary responded happily. She took in the look on Steph's face and tried, "chocolate chips and whipped cream?"

Steph's eyes lit up, and Mary just laughed and called back the order before confirming that I would take my usual. We slid down to the side and allowed the others to order behind us. Once our food was ready, I made a point to scope out the tables while Steph was gaping at the amount of food on my tray.

Walking forward, I guided us to a mostly full table that contained many of the people from Steph's first cafeteria experience. Including the employee from whom she'd taken the phone and gun. I indicated for Steph to sit then took my own seat across from her. "Steph, this is Aaron, he's a flight tech for our larger carrier type vessels. This is Danny, one of our communications techs. Pat here, is a scientist. Abigail is a pilot, and finally Charlie is a weapons tech. Each of them was onsite at the Triskelion and played a large role in helping us overcome HYDRA and bring down Project Insight that day. We wouldn't have succeeded without them, and then they managed to get out alive and were willing to come help out when we made this facility. Actually, some of them helped us evacuate people from Sokovia as well."

"Wow, it's nice to meet you all," Steph said, rising up to shake each person's hand in turn. "Aaron, I'm sorry about the whole gun thing."

Aaron flushed and told her it wasn't her fault. After that I mostly listened and observed as she made small talk with the people at our table. Around the room, everyone else settled in when they saw that Steph was just a friendly, normal person. When she burst out laughing, I caught more than a few employees looking over and grinning at the sound. I'd chosen this table to sit at because I trusted the people at it, but also because I wanted Steph to feel comfortable with _everyone_ in the facility, not just the Avengers. And I wanted the people in the facility to feel comfortable with her- and protect her if anything happened onsite when I wasn't around.

Everything was going well and I felt I had achieved my mission until I saw Steph reach into her pocket and pull out her vitamins. She took a sip of her orange juice and popped the pills into her mouth in between telling an amusing story about working security with Ranger for some singer named Brenda. She swallowed, continued her story for a couple more minutes about fake eyelashes being rubbed off on television and Brenda thinking it was some sort of bug, much to the delight of her now captive audience, when she suddenly stopped and went wide eyed.

When she started choking, I jumped to my feet. I was around the table in just a second, but Steph moved away from me frantically shaking her head. One of the other scientists and Pat stepped forward and moved to touch Steph, but Wanda called out "no! Don't touch her; she's okay, but nobody touch her!"

Pietro picked his sister up and carried her to Steph. Ignoring her instruction, I ran toward Steph again, only to be thrown back by Wanda and her powers. I felt shocked and betrayed when I realized what had happened, but when I tried to move forward again, Wanda cried out, "Bucky, stop him or he dies!"

From behind, I felt Bucky clamp onto me with his metal hand at the same time Steph started turning into charcoal grey stone. I fought him harder, but Vision joined in and helped restrain me forcibly. When I saw the tear streak down Steph's face before the last of her body, her eyes, got covered in stone, I dropped to my knees in despair.

"No!" I cried out as I hit the floor. "I just found her!"

I stared at Steph for a moment longer in absolute disbelief before getting to my feet again and turning to Wanda.

"You knew this would happen! You said she would be okay!"

I strode forward even as Pietro stepped between Wanda and I and Wanda threw up an energy field around the two of them and Steph yelling, "she will be!"

"She's a rock, Wanda!"

I bellowed even as Natasha called out desperately behind me, "Steve! Steve stop!"

I ignored her and kept trying to advance until Bucky's voice finally cut through my rage just because of the quiet wonder it held as he whispered, "Look."

I turned back to Steph as the the rock started breaking apart and realized I was openly weeping, unable to stop. Until, that was, I realized the stone was a shell of sorts and her beautiful, pale skin was starting to show again as the stone crumbled. Her fingers were free first, and she wiggled them slightly. Then her eyes were next, locking with mine and showing me a hint of fear, but also relief.

The rock started crumbling more, and I took a step forward. Casting a glance at Wanda, she smiled softly as she dropped the shield. A split second later, I was thrown off my feet by some sort of explosion.

There was ringing in my ears when I lifted my head back off the ground. Standing in the same spot she had been, was Steph looking around in panic at _everyone_ else who had been thrown away from her, including the twins. The fire sprinklers went off, and water was streaming down in a deluge as people slowly started picking themselves back up.

"What the hell was that?" Clint shouted, finger in his ear and desperately trying to make the ringing stop.

Steph clearly mistook it as anger toward herself and ran. Wide eyed, I looked at Sam, then slowly over to Natasha, Clint, Rhodey, Vision, Wanda, and Pietro who were in turn each watching me.

When my eyes met Bucky's he walked up and shook me roughly. "What the hell are you doing punk? Did you see that? I don't know what that was, but she clearly doesn't either. And she's TERRIFIED, Steve. Go get her!"

Slowly it dawned on me that Steph was okay, but had just left. Shoving Bucky out of my way, I ran for the door, slipping once or twice in the water on my way out. Over my shoulder I called, "someone turn the water off, and Avengers... Assemble!"

One of the benefits of the super soldier serum I was given was peak physical fitness and endurance, which, among other things such as feats of strength, translates into super speed. Which meant Steph really didn't stand a chance of outrunning me, especially when she didn't know the lay of the land and I could call on Friday to keep her in the building.

When I caught her, I called out her name gently so she'd be sure to hear me approach. She spun and looked at me with wide, frightened eyes, and I simply walked up to her, bent down, grabbed her behind the thighs, and lifted her up. There was a moment where she hesitated and I thought she might struggle to get away, but instead she buried her face in my neck and wrapped her arms and legs around me.

"Hey, Steph I don't know what that was, but you're okay. We're going to figure it out, and you're going to be just fine," I offered in between soothing noises as she sobbed in my arms.

I leaned my back against the wall, holding Steph along my front, and just comforted her while she cried. Even once she sniffled and stopped, I didn't push her, just held on and waited for her to be ready for me to move. At the end of the hallway, at least an hour after I'd picked Steph up, I saw Wanda appear and offer me a small smile of reassurance. Seconds later, Steph jolted in surprise then relaxed even more into me. Looking back down the hallway, I saw Wanda's eyes were glowing red, but since Steph seemed better, I wasn't too worried.

I stayed like that for several more minutes until I saw Wanda straighten up and gesture for me to move forward. My instincts were practically screaming at me to treat Steph with kid gloves for the time being, so I brushed a kiss across her forehead and asked, "Sweetheart, is it okay if I take you with Wanda? She seems to want us to follow her."

Steph nodded before confirming that Wanda had been in her mind by saying, "she says there are people here to help me. To make it stop hurting."

I walked forward carefully, wanting to make sure I didn't make whatever pain she was experiencing worse.

"What hurts?" I asked, quickly realizing that Wanda was guiding us back to the Avengers War Room and medical rooms.

"Everything" Steph whispered.

"Do you want me to put you down?"

"No, it hurt just as bad when I was running, and I want to hold you for as long as I can, just in case."

Apparently overhearing that now that I was much closer, Wanda reassured us both. "Steph, you're not going to die. On the contrary, you've become so much… more. These people are going to help you feel better, and then they're going to help you control it."

We stepped into the room, and the rest of the team as well as Dr. Cho's medical staff was waiting anxiously with a group of three people standing together slightly off to the side. There was a man in a suit who I knew, and with him were a younger pair- one man and one woman. All three were watching us with great speculation.

"You don't look surprised to see me, Captain Rogers," Phil Coulson said with a friendly smile.

"When Natasha was doing the file dump, she was able to flag and save for herself the files that your team attempted to delete. We trusted that there was a reason for your actions and didn't do anything other than keep a local copy, read them, then destroy that as well." I explained. "I know you're Agent Skye, the hacker we assumed was doing the deleting, but I don't know who the last of your party is."

"My name is Lincoln," the man said. "It's an honor to meet you, Director Coulson speaks highly of you."

I laughed knowing full well that Coulson was what could generously be called a "fan" and, considering his surveillance skills, could otherwise be called something much less flattering. To Coulson I said, "I actually have something for you. When I found out that you were probably alive- because why else would your file be deleted even if it did officially list you as dead- I went about gathering some things for you. Once we get Steph here squared away, I'll show them to you."

I set Steph on her feet, then said, "this is Stephanie Plum. She had a bit of an… experience… a short time ago, and I guess you're here to help?"

I held back an additional laugh when Coulson stepped forward and, as he was shaking Steph's hand, said, "Ms. Plum, it is truly, truly an honor to meet you. Anyone who Captain America would choose to have by his side... I just, wow. It's an honor to meet you."

Steph looked a little bewildered, but Agent Skye stepped forward and offered her hand to Steph and then me. "Hi, I'm Skye, no need for the formality of the Agent in front of it. Sorry about D.C. The Director has always been a," she cut off sparing a glance for Coulson before turning back to Steph, "fan of Cap's; even has a sign in his office that says, 'Trust Cap' and collects memorabilia. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure he realizes he can't collect people, so you and Barnes should be safe."

Steph laughed at that then clapped a hand over her mouth, shooting the man in question an apologetic look that he waved off.

"No, I'm sorry. I've been working on it. I coached and prepped myself the whole way over here. I had it under control, but I didn't factor in meeting you or the Sergeant." Coulson kept an unperturbed smile on his face as he said it, clearly meant to put Steph and my team at ease.

"Alright," Natasha called out clapping her hands. "Enough small talk! I want to know what the hell happened to Steph and if she's going to be okay!"

Skye stepped forward and started out, "okay, so, who knows who the Kree are?"

I raised my hand, "extraterrestrial species, militaristic, and very advanced in both science and technology. I believe Thor said something about an aptitude for genetic research, but he seemed to not want to talk about them further."

"Well, we've seen an Asgardian and a Kree interact, and they don't seem to get along, so I can't say I'm surprised to hear that," Coulson said.

"Right," Skye continued, "so, the Kree came down to Earth a long time ago."

"How long?" Vision asked.

"Like prehistoric long, so the exact dates and events are quite fuzzy as they aren't exactly written anywhere on Earth," Skye said. "They wanted to create a slave-warrior species, so they messed with the genes of humans. Then they decided it was a bad idea and left, leaving behind some people who were dormantly genetically altered. That has been passed down through the generations, remaining strong enough in some to make them capable of transitioning into what we've been calling Inhumans. Lincoln and I are both Inhuman, and transitioned after going through a process called Terrigenesis."

It seemed several of the Avengers were about to ask questions so I just said, "how about we let Skye get through the entire story first, _then_ we ask questions?"

Skye smiled at me gratefully then continued, "For me that involved contact with what we call an Obelisk, which held a Terrigen Crystal. It briefly turned me into rock-me before I broke out of it. Similar to a butterfly, really. Contact with an Obelisk for people without the Inhuman gene makeup is fatal, as one of my teammates found out."

We murmured condolences, and the Director grimaced before looking at Bucky and I and saying, "Agent Antoine Triplett was Gabe Jones's grandson." We bowed our heads a little deeper at that, but didn't interrupt the story for more details. I had no doubt there would be time for that later.

"There was a small war a few weeks ago between the Inhumans and SHIELD, which is a whole different story we can get into later, with D.C.'s permission." Skye indicated with her thumb toward Director Coulson clarifying my earlier assumption that he was "D.C." before she continued, "Suffice it to say a bunch of the crystals were dumped into the ocean. Which we didn't realize was a problem until I picked up reports of people taking fish oil supplements and then being petrified. Obviously, those were the same supplements you took this morning, Steph. And thankfully, you're Inhuman, so you survived."


	12. Stay

**Chapter 12 - Stay**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

It seemed as though Skye was done talking, and I had about a million questions. Since I was the one who had apparently transformed, I figured it was only fair that I start. "Okay, two things to start. First, am I the only one who has survived the supplements?"

"So far," Skye replied sadly.

I paused for a moment before saying, "second, you mentioned a transformation. And you made that whole butterfly analogy, and caterpillar to butterfly is a pretty serious change. But I am fairly certain I look the same, so what are we talking about here?"

I looked over at Steve who smiled and nodded encouragingly, and I was glad that I hadn't grown fangs or wings or anything that no one had told me about.

"Right!" Skye said enthusiastically. Then she cracked her knuckles and continued, "let's maybe take this outside for a little show and tell? Unless you have a room that Wanda practices the red glowing thing in. That might work. Is this place seismically sound?"

I didn't like the sound of that last bit, and, Sam and Rhodey looked a little bit worried. Everyone else looked... Excited. Eager. Then again, I was pretty sure that ALL of them were adrenaline junkies, Steve in particular.

Pietro took off in a blur, and when we approached the training room, he was tapping his foot impatiently by the door saying, "what took you so long?"

"Didn't see you offering to get us there any faster," Clint shot back.

"I saw how much the Captain ate for breakfast before things got interesting. He's got to be heavy."

"He's heavier than he looks," Sam agreed with a smirk at Steve's indignant response. "Especially if he's had a big breakfast, which I now realize is every goddamn day. Oops, sorry Cap, language!"

Steve just put his head in his big hand and shook it in defeat, so I took pity on him and put my arm around his waist. When he startled, I realized it was the first time I'd initiated contact since he'd grabbed me in the hallway after I ran. I felt him relax against me, and when I looked over at the Avengers, each one of them also seemed slightly relieved.

"Huh, maybe they did want me to stay," I thought to myself.

"Of course we want you to stay, Steph," Wanda said.

"Damn, did I say that out loud?! I really need to work on that... I thought I'd been getting better at not doing that."

"I may have cheated, but they need to know that you think you're unwanted."

Thankfully we had all filed into the training room at that point, so I could stop anyone from commenting further by saying, "okay, Skye. Show me what you've got."

"Alright, I'm going to need a volunteer who doesn't mind getting knocked down," Skye said giving me a look that told me she understood my hesitation and would let me get away with ignoring it for the moment.

When Steve and Bucky both stepped forward, she gestured for them to stand several feet in front of some crash pads. Then she simply put her hands up, and they went flying with what seemed almost like waves of just barely visible wind. Once they picked themselves back up, Skye crouched down and instructed, "okay, now run at me!"

As they ran, she touched her fingers to the ground, and though I could hear a rumble, I couldn't feel anything. Steve and Bucky clearly could though, as they went stumbling, crashing to the ground.

"Pretty much everything vibrates at some frequency," Skye explained. "Terrigenesis gave me the power to control those vibrations."

"Is that what happened to me?" I asked.

"Your body went through over a thousand years of evolution in a couple seconds when you took those pills, so you'll probably feel a bit off at the moment," Lincoln said. "We have some treatments we'd like to start running ASAP to help you adapt."

" _Then_ we'll figure out exactly what you can do," Skye said, "and we'll teach you how to control it and use it however you see fit."

I pondered that for a moment, tossed it around in my head for a while. As I did, I turned back to Lincoln and said, "no show and tell from you?"

Reaching out his hand again, Lincoln walked to me. When I put my hand in his, I could see what looked almost like a little bolt of lightning shoot between us. Then I felt a sensation running through my body, like a _pleasant_ version of being stunned. Just enough of a hum to really make me feel like something was actually charging me up, almost like a battery.

"That feels awesome," I said. "Energizing even. That's you?"

"Yes, when I woke up, every cell in my body had a different charge, which hurt, but eventually I managed to control it," Lincoln said while increasing the flow of electricity I felt going through me.

I had a moment to wonder in the sensation, but then everything went white.

When I came to, I was immobilized on the medical bed on which Dr. Cho had first treated me. As I looked around, I noticed a few things. First, all I really had on was that darn medical draping again around my bust with a second band of it around my hips. Seriously, I felt extremely exposed.

The next thing I noticed was that I had a ton of needles sticking out of me with little bits of electricity flowing through them.

The final thing I noticed was that the party had followed me.

Lined up in chairs circling the room were the Avengers, Skye, and Coulson. Lincoln was standing at what seemed to be some sort of computer console that definitely hadn't been there before, so I assumed that he had brought it with him. Dr. Cho was hovering by his shoulder, carefully studying what he was doing.

Steve was sitting with his elbow on his knee and his chin resting in his hand just watching me, so when I looked at him, he immediately noticed I was awake.

"What happened?" I croaked out.

"Minor miscalculation on my end," Lincoln said. "It seems our powers are a little bit reactive, and given the shock your body already was in, it knocked you out. Shouldn't happen that way again though, and really I think it might have helped you heal faster, actually."

"Not to sound overly shallow here," I said looking over at Steve, "but I still look like me?"

Natasha let out a bark of laughter and said, "Yes, бомба."

It was said with a Russian accent, but it still sounded suspiciously like a certain other word, so I asked, "what did you just call me?"

"It's Russian," Natasha said with a dismissing wave of her hand. "Just a nickname for you."

I looked at Bucky who was trying hard not to laugh, and said with a sigh of resignation, "it means 'bomb', doesn't it?"

Bucky started laughing at that, and Skye, Coulson, and Lincoln started looking around. Sounding more than a little nervous, it was Coulson who asked, "is there something we should know? You're not some kind of arms dealer, are you? You don't make or set off bombs."

"Trust me, I would love nothing more than to never have anything to do with fire or bombs or explosions of any sort ever again. They just have a way of finding me."

Lincoln and Skye were looking at each other as though they were the telepathic ones, and finally Skye said, "well that would have been good to know at the start of show and tell. Some people have a sort of… affinity… for something before the transition that actually hints at what the outcome of the transition will be. There was a woman who went through Terrigenesis in the same incident as me who always liked flowers… after she was basically covered in thorns."

"Well, I guess it's lucky I'm not walking fire or something then," I said nervously. "Like Johnny Storm."

"Is there anything else?" Lincoln asked curiously.

"Nope!" I said.

Clearing his throat, Steve spoke up, "what about the whole 'spidey sense' thing?"

Everyone looked at me expectantly, and I said, "that's just a joke!" When no one stopped staring, I offered an explanation once more. "I often thought I could tell if someone was around because I could feel a tingle on my neck, most reliably with my boss but others as well. Or I would get this feeling that someone wanted to hurt me, or was following me, or watching me. I've had a bit of a stalker problem through the years."

"You could feel presence as well as intent?" Skye asked.

"I guess," I said slowly. "But let's not get carried away, I mean, it could have also just been me being overly sensitive. When you know _someone_ is trying to kill you, it's easy to feel like _everyone_ is trying to kill you. Sorry, I shouldn't say it like that, I'm sure some of you have felt like you had everyone trying to kill you before, and it was probably much closer to reality for you."

"Steph, didn't you say you had someone put a price on your head and bring in a hit man from the other side of the country? That sounds like everyone trying to kill you to me," Steve said, patting an open spot on my arm gently.

"No, seriously," Director Coulson said, "what DO you do?"

"Bond enforcement and security consulting," I replied nonchalantly.

"You're a bounty hunter?" Skye asked in awe, "I think you just became my hero, that's so bad ass. How did you wind up doing that?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Business degree without honors, work as a lingerie buyer, have the store go up in figurative flames when they get taken down for tax evasion and other white collar crimes, be unable to find a job using said degree, run out of money, and blackmail your cousin into letting you be a bounty hunter," I rambled. When I noticed everyone just staring at me, I said with humor in my voice, "What? Is that not the way most people get into the business?"

"How did you not get killed right away?" Coulson asked bluntly. "You had no training!"

"Well, mostly luck, and Ranger took me under his wing. That's why I work some hours for him here and there now." Coulson's team was behind, but they seemed willing to just go with it for the moment, as I was fairly certain they might not even know who Ranger was. Then again, Ranger had known three Avengers, so maybe they did know him.

"And the hit man?" Coulson asked. "I don't think even Tony Stark has ever had someone order an actual hit man on him, and when you meet him for a little longer, you'll understand why that's a surprising fact. Well, I mean, someone did hire a terrorist to kidnap and kill him, but that's not exactly the same."

I really felt like we had better things to do, but the newcomers looked enthralled so I quickly explained. "I stopped at the deli-mart one night to get nachos and ended up witnessing a gang-robbery. As I was the only person who could identify the guy, the gang decided that it really was best if I disappear, especially after I drove into their territory in a car that was the color of their major rival gang and bounced a few of them off the hood of my car."

Lincoln had walked forward while I was talking and slowly started removing the needles as I was talking. I waited while he finished up, and with a smile he asked me, "how do you feel?"

"Much better, thank you," I responded with a smile. "Before you did whatever this is, I felt like every fiber of my being was on fire and about to explode."

"Acupuncture with a twist," Lincoln said. "Something that's been passed down and improved upon among the Inhumans for generations."

"Well," I responded, "It's a good thing I was unconscious when you got near me with those things; I am not a fan of needles."

"She's had a gang after her, but needles she doesn't like," Sam said incredulously.

"Well, I'm not wild about gangs either."

 _ **Steve's POV**_

I was listening carefully as Skye explained about the Inhumans and what exactly that meant for Steph. When Skye had gone forward with her demonstrations, I'd been both literally and figuratively floored. The closest thing I could compare it to would be Wanda using her physical energy against me. I'd barely begun to contemplate the manner in which it appeared that Lincoln was manipulating electricity before I realized something was wrong with Steph.

Stepping forward, I noticed Wanda slow Steph's fall so that I was able to catch her before she hit the ground. Swinging her up into my arms, I cast a worried look over at Coulson before zeroing in on Lincoln. "What did you do to her?" I asked quickly.

"I was just running a low current of electricity through her, something I've done many, many times over the years. Don't worry, it won't have hurt her. What she said about it energizing her is an unusual statement, so clearly it interacted with her powers in some way. If you'll let me set up my equipment and start those treatments, I should be able to get a better understanding."

I looked warily at Coulson and each member of my team before nodding. Skye and Coulson peeled off with Natasha and Bucky to grab Lincoln's things, while I guided Lincoln to medical with Steph in my arms and the rest of the team following. Once Skye returned with the gear, she exchanged a look with Lincoln then Dr. Cho. She and Dr. Cho ushered everyone out, myself included, for just long enough to strip Steph down and get her covered in medical draping again.

Lincoln was busy fiddling with a tablet and some medical equipment, so I left him to it rather than interrogating him as I wanted to. Arms crossed over my chest, I looked at my team. "So, what do you all think?"

"I trust Phil," Clint said bluntly. "If this is the team that got him through HYDRA and the months that followed, I trust them."

"Technically, Lincoln is somewhat new, he wasn't around when SHIELD fell because he was living in a community of Inhumans. He has since proven himself an invaluable member of the team, and he helped Skye learn about and control her own powers," Coulson added, making it clear that he was listening.

"Skye seems to have very good control," Bucky said, with the respect clear in his voice. "If Lincoln helped her, then we should let him help Steph."

"Steph's worried we won't want her to stay," Wanda said.

Pointing at Wanda I commanded, "we've talked about this before, and you really need to watch that. Reading people's minds without permission is…"

"Not a nice thing to do," Wanda and Pietro replied in unison. Wanda elaborated, "Steph actually offered, of her own free will, for me to do so anytime I wanted for practice or any reason I felt like. Natasha was there, she can confirm this if you do not believe me."

Studying Wanda I said, "you think she can do something similar to your cognitive abilities."

"Not really, no. But I think what she calls her spidey sense is something to be explored," Wanda carefully replied.

I stared at her a moment longer before I nodded my head.

"We've barely started training this bunch," Clint said while casually studying his fingers. "We could easily add Steph into the class, especially since she doesn't seem to be exactly a civilian."

"Maybe we let her deal with the whole thousands of years of evolution in less than a minute thing first," I said.

"And then _ask_ her," Vision emphasized. He tended not to speak often, but when he did, it was as the voice of reason, though he did have a killer sense of humor when he tried.

Lincoln was carefully placing acupuncture needles everywhere, and I just watched silently, occasionally checking that Sam was watching, in addition to Dr. Cho, as he had the most medical training out of the actual Avengers. When I noticed little bits of electricity flowing between the needles I finally spoke up. "Are you sure that is safe given how she reacted to your powers before?"

Lincoln studied me carefully than said, "yes, all my readings indicate that the reaction, though it did cause her to lose consciousness, actually considerably accelerated her transition. I believe she'll wake up shortly."

"That's hours and hours faster than me," Skye looked up from her tablet to say.

True to Lincoln's word, it really wasn't all that much longer before Steph woke up and started asking questions again. When all the needles had been pulled out of Steph, she made us all leave so she could get dressed again. Thankfully it seemed her desire for answers was great enough that it was just seconds later that she had the door open and was calling all of us back.

We settled into various chairs around the common area of the space, and made ourselves comfortable once more. It seemed that no one really knew what to say for a few minutes, but before the silence got oppressively awkward, Skye said, "tell me about the explosions and fires."

"Which?" Steph asked in a completely honest manner that really did freak me out a little by making me wonder just how many there had been. We'd covered some, but it sounded like there were many more we'd yet to discuss.

"I don't know, the first," Skye instructed. "Then move on from there."

So Steph started by telling us about her ex-boyfriend, Morelli's, car when she'd been chasing him as an FTA. Then she talked about the funeral home fire. When she got to the explosion when she'd been "redecorating" an apartment with Rangeman, and had actually been standing near the bomb but only been knocked out, both Skye and Lincoln perked up and asked a whole host of questions.

Steph was turned away from me as she talked to them, but she still seemed a little tense so I walked up to try to relax her by giving her a shoulder massage. As soon as I touched her, she jumped, clearly not having heard my approach.

For the second time that day, not counting Wanda's interference during Steph's transformation, I felt myself thrown backwards by some sort of concussive blast. This time I felt heat with it, so I was unsurprised when I felt myself getting doused with water, again, from the sprinkler system. Thankfully the only person who'd been standing particularly near a window was Vision, and when he was thrown out of the room, he simply caught himself and flew back in, setting down right next to Steph.

While I sat back up, I heard him say softly, "you're okay, Steph; no one is going to be upset. We've all done much more than blow up a room."

With a sigh, Steph thunked her head behind her on the remnants of the couch and groaned out, "two rooms. In less than 24 hours, I've blown up two rooms. And I can't even blame anyone else because it was definitely my fault."

"Actually," I said squatting down in front of her this time, "I think the last one was my fault. I shouldn't have touched you until I was sure you knew I was there. You've had a stressful couple of days."

I heard several people behind me make noises that clearly were in agreement of that fact. Without looking back at them I said, "why don't you all go clean up, and Steph and I will meet you in the Avengers quarters common room shortly. Natasha, can you show Coulson, Skye, and Lincoln to somewhere they can do that? Dr. Cho, I think you can go back to Korea as planned, and we'll check back in with you when you return tomorrow."

"Actually, Captain." Dr. Cho pushed back, "if you're okay with it, I'd like to stay and observe. If there's a chance I'll be treating Steph again, I'd like to absorb as much information as possible. There's nothing more I actually _need_ to do in person for the move."

I nodded to the doctor and took Steph's hand to guide her out of the room, leading the charge for the break. I knew that if we didn't get going, we'd be in our wet clothes forever.

As we walked, I could feel nervousness coming off of Steph, and I thought about what Wanda had said. Steph was worried that we wouldn't want her here any longer after the events of the day. And that just wasn't true, so I was going to need to spend a few minutes beginning to show her that.

We walked in silence and when we finally reached my bedroom and I shut the door behind us, Steph flopped down backwards on the bed with her hands over her face and groaned. "I'm so sorry, Steve!"

Leaning over her, I gently pulled her hands off her face and when she opened her eyes to look up at me, I simply asked, "why?"

"You thought you were getting a relatively normal girlfriend, even if she was prone to blowing things up, and instead you got a freak. I completely understand if you-"

I cut off what I felt sure was an offer to let me out of our fledgling relationship by dropping down, on my elbows to keep my weight off her, and pressing a heated kiss to her lips. When I pulled back, I said, "Steph, I'm not normal. At any point after meeting me did you think, 'you know what, this guy's a freak, it'd probably be best not to bother with him after all'?"

"You're not a freak, Steve."

"Neither are you, Steph."

"It turns out I'm not even human! At least, not really."

"Neither is Thor, but I trust him and consider him to be a brother to me. For that matter, you could argue that I'm not really human myself. All of my genetic material has been altered, and exactly what to classify me has been the matter of debate among others at various points in time… often when they think I can't hear them. I swear, sometimes I don't know what it is about 'super hearing' that they don't understand."

"Glad I'm not the only one who can get lost in an off-topic ramble," Steph teased with a small smile, and I felt a little bit relieved that she was joking. That had to be a good sign. "So it doesn't bother you that I'm apparently some sort of alien experiment ancestor and that I have powers that even I don't know what they are?"

"By that logic, I'm the result of experiments run by a German scientist! You're still you, Steph; that hasn't changed. And I'm falling for you, not what you do or whether or not your genes are the result of alien experiments thousands of years ago."

"Huh," Steph said thoughtfully. "Are you sure you're not some kind of angel or saint?"

"I'm just a man, Steph," I responded. "Actually, Natasha called you an angel that first night when you offered to deliver our man to us when we knew we'd cause a scene getting him ourselves."

"Huh," Steph said again.

I chuckled at her speechlessness and decided to take advantage of my position by digging my hands into her hair and going in for more kisses. Steph enthusiastically returned them for several minutes before I forced myself to back away from her and flop onto my back next to her, hands on my abdomen though they twitched to find her skin again.

"I'd really like you to stay," I said. "At least until the case is done, but I'm really hoping you'll just generally want to stay."

There were a few beats of silence before Steph said, "I'll stay."

She didn't clarify if she was referring to the case or a possibly indefinite stay, but I figured I would take it for the time being. Even if she meant the former, that would buy me time to convince her of how right I knew we were for each other.

We stared at the ceiling together wordlessly for a few beats, then Steph's hand wandered over and grabbed mine. I let her link one of her hands together with mine and pull it down between us. After a couple more minutes, I gave her hand a squeeze and said, "we really need to meet up with the others."

"I'm scared, Steve," she whispered. "what if it's something bad or dangerous. I mean, clearly I can cause some sort of explosions."

"Steph, I felt Skye's powers, and they're intense, definitely capable of being massively destructive. I'm sure Lincoln's are too. Yet they both seem capable of living ordinary lives, flying in planes, etc., so I'm sure you'll be okay. Whatever it is, it'll just take a little bit of work, but I'm here for you no matter how hard it gets. You can do it, and I'll be happily standing next to you, cheering on when you succeed. Even if you do spontaneously grow thorns or something equally bizarre."

 **A/N:** бомба, pronounced bomba, means "bomb" in Russian.


	13. Transitioned

**A/N:** Who feels like moving up to three updates a week? Mon/Wed/Fri sound good to you? Yes? Good. Done.

 **Chapter 13 - Transitioned**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

After the brief pep-talk he'd given me, Steve had offered me the use of his shower to clean up before we met the others. Not knowing what was going to happen when we started trying to figure out my powers, I declined the offer in favor of a shower later in the day. Instead, I just put on new clothes that hadn't been soaked by sprinklers, and tried to tame my now frizzy ponytail. As Steve's clothes had gotten a bit singed (really, it was just a tinge) in addition to wet, he'd had to change as well.

When he walked out of the closet he'd been changing in, he was wearing his uniform, so I raised my eyebrows in question while also doing a once over because it did glorious things to highlight his physique. Steve actually seemed a bit nervous as he said, "I figured this thing's fireproof and got some armor and protective gear built into it. I don't intend to sit on the sidelines. Between this and my shield, I should be pretty safe from whatever you throw at me."

I smiled at him even as I nibbled on my lip and said, "you don't know that for sure; it still might not be safe."

"I'm not taking no for an answer on this one," Steve replied, grabbing my hands. "I'm going to be there for you every step of the way on this."

Together we began walking out to meet the team, and I looked him over head to toe again. Clearing my throat, I said, "you know, that's a really good look for you. And I can't help feeling a little under dressed right now."

The grin Steve shot me was one that offered a hint of carnal suggestion and fully admitted that, although he may have felt silly about being in uniform, he knew he looked damn good in it.

Then he looked me over from head to toe, taking in my yoga pants and form-fitting racer-back exercise tank top and nodded his head. "You look more than fine to me."

His compliment gave me just a bit of bounce in my step again as we reached the others, hand in hand.

"How are you feeling, Steph?" Lincoln asked with a kind smile.

"I feel surprisingly good, actually," I answered honestly.

"You're lucky," Skye informed me. "When I had my transformation and Lincoln's treatment, I was exhausted for a few days."

Through unspoken agreement, the group had started quickly walking through the facility, returning once again to the training room. Really it wasn't so much a room as almost like a giant, empty hangar. It was utilitarian and clearly meant to withstand heavy hits.

Taking in the sight of other employees lingering, Steve called out, "if you're not an Avenger, or one of these guests, you need to clear out. FRIDAY, please turn off live video feeds of this space until we leave. You may continue your security monitoring, but you aren't to provide video of what is happening in here to anyone else. Recordings are only to be accessed by one of the team, Dr. Cho, or Steph. Director Coulson, Skye, and Lincoln must request access after today and may only view it here, no copies."

"Yes, Captain," acknowledged FRIDAY.

Everyone was staring at me, and I, in turn, was alternating staring at Skye and Lincoln. Finally I asked, "so, what can I do?"

Skye laughed a little and said, "well, if you don't know, we don't know, so we're here to find out. Why doesn't everyone other than Lincoln, the Captain, and I take a few steps back for the time being?"

"Actually, Wanda, you can stay too," Lincoln countered. "That red stuff is some sort of energy, right?"

Wanda nodded her head. Remembering all her previous predictions, I asked her, "do you know what I do?"

"I've seen some," she admitted. "But I don't think I'd be able to tell you how; you're going to need to figure this out for yourself."

"Okay," I said resolutely before turning back to Lincoln. "Any ideas on where to start?"

He smiled amicably at me again, and held out his hand. Taking the hint, I held mine out, sending Steve a hopefully reassuring smile as I did so. Lincoln shot a wave of electricity through me again, steadily increasing the flow. As he did, I felt a sensation once more almost as though I was being recharged.

"How do you feel now?" Lincoln asked.

"Like I just had a really good night's sleep and a gallon of caffeine."

He just nodded his hand, then pulling me around so that I was standing with nothing but a concrete wall behind me and Skye in front of me, he took a few steps back and told Skye, "hit her with a concussive blast. Enough to knock her down but not out."

"Wait!" Steve called. I thought he was going to protest, so I prepared myself for the ensuing argument. Instead, he rushed over to the side, grabbed a couple of crash pads and set them down behind me before resuming his position and waving his hand at Skye to tell her to go ahead. I blew a kiss at him, but turned my attention back to Skye.

Skye held up her hands, and I felt something hit me almost like a strong gust of wind. It knocked me back a few steps, but didn't take me down, and I could see surprise on Skye's face. Without warning, Wanda took advantage of the distraction to throw a ball of red energy at me. Reflexively, I put my hand up as though to catch it, surprised when it floated an inch in front of my hand. I felt a gentle push from Wanda, and after she whispered instructions into my mind, allowed her to force that into me as well.

"How do you feel now?" Lincoln asked.

I didn't even really know how to put into words what I was feeling, so I said, "you know how earlier, you asked me how I felt, and I told you about all that energy I had?" I looked around the room, seeing a couple startled expressions, but everyone nodded. "Compared to now, _that_ felt like I was sleeping."

"Alright, well, obviously you can absorb energy," Lincoln said.

"Which turns your eyes mega cool," Skye said.

I'll admit, it was shallow, but I panicked at that information and looked at Steve, wide-eyed. "It's very pretty," he reassured me. "It's like how Wanda's eyes glow red, but instead of red, you have this light blue that complements the natural blue of your eyes quite well. Actually, the shade matches your necklace exactly. And it's like glowing speckles throughout- absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous."

Deciding it was better than being covered with thorns I nodded my head and looked back at Lincoln, Skye, and Wanda. Lincoln stared back with a challenge in his eyes and said, "I've never met someone who could absorb energy like that and not be able to do at least one thing that was damn impressive with it."

Frustrated, I threw my arms out wide and said, "but _what_ do I do with it?" Everyone's eyes shifted down to my hands, and I could feel power surging through them. They were faintly glowing blue, a color that, as I looked at it, reminded me of the center of a candle or blow torch flame.

"Do you remember how it felt when you were holding my energy?" Wanda asked.

I nodded slowly, "it felt strange, foreign. Like I could use it, but there was something off about it."

"That's because it was my energy. Use yours."

Feeling a bit like a fool, I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the memory. Even though my eyes were closed, I sensed danger and threw my hand up, even as I opened my eyes once again. In my left hand was another of Wanda's energy balls. When I looked at her, she gave me a playful smile. I stood there and looked at it for a moment, playing with it and getting familiar with how it felt to hold.

Wanda wiggled her eyebrows and made a "come at me" gesture, so I decided to go for it. I pulled her energy orb into myself then, in my opposite hand, I tried to duplicate the effect. Looking down at my hand, I saw a similar sphere of that glowing blue color. Making sure Wanda was paying attention, I threw it at her, watching as she threw up a red shield and my energy ball broke apart against it before disappearing. Where red and blue once were, everything appeared normal again.

"Is it… fire?" Rhodey asked, wonder in his voice.

"If it was fire, it would turn orange where it was in contact with oxygen and cooling down, right?" Clint voiced.

"Well is it hot?" Sam asked, and all eyes immediately shifted back to me.

"It didn't feel hot to me," I said with a shrug. "But would it?"

Instead of focusing on the obviously flashy part, Skye asked, "how'd you know to catch the second energy ball Wanda threw at you?"

Natasha and Steve both perked up a little more at that, so I figured it was important and played the moment back in my mind.

"I don't know," I finally said. "I just knew that there was danger."

"Could be a form of aura reading?" Lincoln mused aloud.

Skye nodded and studied me saying "danger intuition. Though she could sense intent before, so it might wind up being a little more advanced than that. Could be useful if she'll be able to tell if someone is good or evil. She's got an interesting mix of things going on."

"They all seem to be energy related- looks like she absorbs kinetic energy, thermal energy, and magical energy. My guess is that the aura reading or danger sensing she's doing has to do with her absorbing psionic energy too. We've seen her throw energy spheres- not to mention those concussive, on the verge of being explosive, blasts earlier when she transformed and when Captain Rogers scared her," Lincoln agreed.

"Dibs!" Clint called out.

Surprised by the non sequitur, I turned to look at him and asked, "what?"

"I'm calling dibs on you. I can see them over there thinking they want you on their team, so I'm calling dibs!" Clint claimed. "I'll also point out that we saw you first!"

I flushed bright red at that, and Bucky just stepped in smoothly and said, "I believe what Clint meant to say is that your powers seem incredibly valuable thus far. We look forward to working with Coulson and his team to help you discover your full abilities, Doll. And, once you do, if you wanted to go into something a little bigger than bounty hunting, we'd love to have you consider joining our team."

"As usual, Barton is right," Coulson added, causing Clint to elbow Natasha and ask if she'd heard that. "we'll almost certainly be making you a similar offer. Though we'd be willing to discuss only bringing you in occasionally on an as-needed basis."

Steve clearly saw what must have been the panic I was feeling in my eyes because he said, "all of that can be discussed at a later time, after Steph has had plenty of time to think and adjust. And Steph, it should go without saying, you don't have to do either. You can go back to bounty hunting if you want; I suspect it'll be a good deal safer for you now."

In his eyes I could see that Steve was telling the truth, he'd stand behind whatever decision I made, even if it was to return to the life of bounty hunting- albeit as a distinctly more awesome bond enforcement agent.

Deciding to set the matter aside for the time, I turned my attention back to the three who were apparently my teachers this afternoon and said, bouncing on my toes, "so, what else do you think I can do? And do you think I HAVE to absorb energy first?"

"Only one way to find out," Skye said with a friendly grin. "We're going to have to try. What do you want to work on first?"

Stepping forward, Bucky held out his metal arm, "I want to know if it is hot."

Looking at his arm, I said, "that seems like a mighty small target. Can't we use some sort of heat sensing camera?"

"You just threw it at Wanda!" he argued. "What if she hadn't been able to block it?"

I felt my eyes bug out as I turned to look at Wanda, but she waved it off. "I knew it would work, but if it somehow hadn't, Pietro would have moved me fast enough. Of that, I am certain."

"Come on, Doll," Bucky prodded. "Are you going to tell me it didn't go exactly where you aimed it?"

"Why do you call me that?" I asked.

"It's a thing from when we were kids," Steve responded. "If you don't like it, he'll stop. But Natasha won't let him call her that, and he's dying for someone to whom he could give that nickname. I'd guess he figures that everyone knows he wouldn't go after my girl, so it's safe enough to use you as an outlet. Now stop stalling and throw."

I huffed out a sigh. Men were weird.

Once more, I focused on my hand. When I had a blue ball in it once more, I offered God a deal. I would try to swear less if He let me not kill Bucky.

Then I threw.

The ball hit Bucky right in the middle of his arm, and he cursed as the arm went limp at his side. I started to run toward him, and had just made it to him when my spidey sense went off. Throwing both arms up, I turned, and looked in wonder around me.

Bucky and I were inside what seemed to be a blue bubble. From inside, I noticed something on the ground in the direction the danger had come from and frowned. I dropped the shield and picked up the object, turning a pointed gaze in Clint's direction as I fingered the blunt arrow.

"Training arrow," Clint said. "Would have left a bruise, but that's it."

"And this is you trying to convince me to join your team?" I asked incredulously.

Clint rubbed his hands together with a smile and said, "no, it's not. That'll be so much more fun."

 _ **Steve's POV**_

It took everything I had in me to not react in concern when Bucky's arm went limp, but I refrained because I didn't want Steph to become hesitant to use her powers or afraid of them. I was relieved when Bucky was able to shake his arm and, with a whirring noise, bring it back to what appeared to be full functionality.

"Well that packs one hell of a punch, Doll," Buck said. "And for the record, it was quite warm, but not excessively hot, in that form at least. Tingly though. Definitely tingly."

"Are you okay?" Steph asked him cautiously.

"Right as rain," Bucky replied. "And I like that shield; that'll be handy for you."

Steph walked back over to Lincoln, Skye, and Wanda to work. Realizing that I had less to offer than those three, I relaxed enough to move over to the rest of the team and Coulson. Together we watched as Steph played with the powers she'd discovered so far.

After about twenty minutes, Coulson spoke up, "it's good that you're supporting her and encouraging her to learn from the start."

I shifted my position so that I could look primarily at Coulson, but still observe Steph with my peripheral vision. "Did you learn that the hard way?"

With a sigh, Coulson responded, "at first, we didn't know what had happened. We knew that of the other two people who had been with Skye in the temple, one was dead and the other was running around, unarmed, but managing to viciously murder well trained agents who were on alert. Skye, however, didn't appear any different."

"We found you on various security tapes we reviewed after we discovered HYDRA's infiltration," Natasha cut in. "At that point we'd already figured you were probably alive, but those videos confirmed it and gave us a glimpse of your new life. Your team is young."

When Coulson nodded, Bucky picked up the thread. "They reacted in fear, so Skye, what? Tried to hide it?"

In response, Coulson just sighed once more. Taking a, no doubt educated, guess, Clint said in a monotone, "and when they figured it out, they tried to help by stopping it or maybe even reversing it, rather than embracing and understanding it."

"You know," I said. "When the Strategic Scientific Reserve experimented on me and Erskine was murdered immediately after, I just reacted. I learned a lot in those minutes of jumping into battle. After that, though, they took blood and started experimenting. They weren't going to let me fight, so I agreed to go on the USO tour, and I wasn't given much leeway to figure out what my new limits were. I often wondered what would have happened if I'd been allowed to train from the beginning. How much better I would've been at the very start of the fighting with the Howling Commandos."

Left unspoken, but clearly understood by all around me, was that I'd always wondered if I would have been able to save Bucky that day. A sideways glance told me that Bucky knew what I was thinking and was of the opinion I was an idiot for thinking it. It was all done and gone, and in the past. Looking over at Steph fully, I realized that for the first time, I was excited about the future.

"I've always wondered that too," Coulson whispered in a tone so reverent, it successfully broke the somber mood. I had to cough to cover up a laugh.

Several of my teammates were not so generous and audibly snickered, so I pushed us past the moment by saying, "so with that in mind, I don't think I could do anything but the encourage her and possibly down the line push her to make sure she reaches her full potential."

As we continued to watch, I became increasingly satisfied by what I saw.

"The girl's a natural," Coulson commented. "Though to be fair, I think that's part of the whole thing with it actually being part of their DNA."

"She is," I agreed, proud even though I had absolutely nothing to do with it.

An hour later, with impressively few flubs on Steph's part, the rest of us grew restless, so we started using the side of the training arena that wasn't an energy playground for sparring and our own training. Even Coulson took off his suit jacket, laid it over a chair, and went a few rounds with Natasha AND Barton ganging up on him.

At one point, Sam was up, flying around, playing a game we liked to play where I threw my shield and he dodged it when I noticed something in the corner, moving closer and closer to Steph.

Sam apparently noticed as well, because we both called out "Steph, no!" at the same time. Unfortunately we were too slow because two other things were happening simultaneously- a man materialized out of a trail of ants and Steph used her powers to blast him back and into a wall.

When she processed what we'd yelled, she put her hands down and looked at me, wide-eyed. "Oh shit! Friend?" She asked.

The man in question had disappeared from sight then reappeared in a pile against the wall. Shakily, he reached up, opened his mask, and said, "what the hell? Last time I saw you, you were all like, 'we owe you' and 'hey, Scott, feel free to drop by any time.' And this is how you greet your guests? Who is this even?"

"I believe," I laughed as I offered him a hand up, "I also asked you to please announce yourself properly or let us know to expect you, and not help yourself through our security again. And she's Steph. Steph, this is Scott."

"Friend?" She asked again.

"He's foiled one HYDRA plot of which we're aware," Natasha said.

"And he helped me out of a tight spot," Bucky added.

"I think that's spy speak for 'friend'," Steph said looking at her feet. "I am really, really, sorry."

Scott opened his mouth with a look on his face like he was going to be a smart ass, so I glowered at him. With satisfaction, I watched him shut his mouth then put on a friendly smile and say, "it's my fault. I should have signed in and properly announced myself. I'm probably lucky that was the worst I got." Looking around, he took in our guests and said, "hi, three other people I haven't met. Why don't you look surprised by my bit?"

"We know who you are," Coulson said. "Hank was in our registry and we added you after your little show in San Francisco."

"Scott Lang!" Skye rushed up and shook his hand. "I have to say, what you did with Vistacorp was amazing! My name is Skye, and it's a pleasure to meet you."

I noticed with great interest that Pietro seemed put off by the attention Skye was giving the man, especially when Scott responded saying, "Skye... Are you the Skye that used to work for The Ri-"

Casting a nervous glance at Pietro, who didn't notice, Skye cut Scott off saying, "yes. That was... Misguided... I only hack when absolutely necessary now."

"That's how I feel about breaking into places and stealing shit too," was his friendly reply.

Steph was still looking a little down, and Scott noticed this as well, stepping forward and saying, "hey there, Gorgeous. It's no problem what you did, actually it was pretty awesome. And I'm just fine."

Instinctively, I stepped forward the rest of the way and placed myself right next to Steph. So close we were touching, which caused her to finally look up once more. I saw laughter in her eyes as she took in my movement, and I just shrugged, unable to stop myself from being satisfied by the understanding I saw in Scott's eyes when Steph leaned into me.

"Was there anything we can do for you, Scott?"

"Yeah, I wanted to return that device I borrowed," he said.

Without further explanation, he walked off toward the storage area, so Bucky and Natasha followed. I turned to Sam who was trying so desperately to appear nonchalant. "Sam, buddy, I've reviewed the audio and video of his break in; you should know by now, Cap ALWAYS finds out."

All I could do was laugh at Sam's huffing and grumbling about superheroes, some of which Steph must have heard because she let out a confused, "but you're a superhero too."

Hearing that, Sam paused. Then he broke out in the widest grin and boomed, "that's right, I am!"

"Did you have to say that? His head's big enough already." I mock complained. Looking around at how worn down people seemed, and taking a quick glance at a clock which showed more time had passed than I realized, I said, "Alright. Let's get cleaned up, take a lunch break, then maybe you can go through some more files, Steph. If that's alright?"

"Of course," she murmured. "That's why I'm here, after all."

I put an arm around her waist as we started walking out together and said, "it's what brought you here, sure. But I like to hope that's not the only thing keeping you here at this point?"


	14. Coming to Grips

**Chapter 14 - Coming to Grips**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

I let out an inaudible sigh of relief when Steve shut the door to his room behind us. Or, at least I'd thought it had been inaudible until I caught the look on Steve's face when he guided me over to the couch and the squatted in front of me.

"How are you holding up?"

I forced out an admittedly overwhelmed-sounding laugh and asked, "physically or emotionally?"

Steve gave a small smile and said, "Both. But let's start with physically. Since I've known you you were kidnapped, got shot, and had your body apparently go through thousands of years in evolution in seconds. And then you played with new powers your body isn't used to for hours. And I've only known you a handful of days."

"You know, I was expecting to feel drained, but I'm not. I'm not quite as overcharged as I was when we tested the whole energy absorption bit, but I'm also not exhausted or anything. I'll be curious to try later this evening maybe, and definitely in the morning, to see if I can still do all that stuff. I was worried I'd need to absorb energy from somewhere in order to be able to do the other stuff, but I don't think that's going to be true."

"That's going to drive Tony crazy... And Bruce if he ever comes back."

"Why?"

"I'm no scientist, but I'm fairly certain that breaks physics at least a little. Something about conservation of energy; you should have to draw it from somewhere."

"And the Hulk doesn't break physics?"

That got me a delighted laugh and a nod in acknowledgement of my point. Then he sobered up a little and said, "and emotionally?"

I sat there in silence for several beats. Shifting uncomfortably, I said, "I grew up not really talking about my feelings; in fact, my family was mostly against doing so. I swear we're more than a little emotionally stunted."

The quiet felt a little awkward for the first time, and I could feel disappointment coming off Steve as he fidgeted a little then said, "you don't have to-"

"No. I..." I cut him off and took a deep breath. "That's not what I meant. I guess I just want to make sure you know that it's difficult for me to share my feelings. Sometimes you might have to push for that. And it's not because you're not important or I don't care about you and want you to know. I just spent thirty some years choking back my emotions, especially the angsty ones. Except for mad. My family absolutely does mad, as you might have been able to tell from my mom's voicemail. We yell and scream and wave our hands around with the best of them."

Steve gave me a look so deep I was worried he might have been able to see into my soul. I don't know what he was looking for, but he nodded his head after a short while and said, "okay. So how are you feeling emotionally?"

"You know in cartoons or slapstick comedy when people lose their balance and flail with their arms out, wildly trying to find some way to catch or anchor themselves?" I paused long enough for Steve to nod his head that he understood what I meant. "I feel like the emotional equivalent of that."

Hearing that statement, Steve sat down on the armchair across the way. He opened up his arms to me and said, "let me help; let me be your anchor until you find your footing."

Overwhelmed by a sense of relief, I scrambled over onto his lap. His arms settled around me, and I felt a measure of peace begin to settle in where only chaos had been.

"Obviously I've seen all the information on the news and such when you've had your battles. Just like everyone else, I've known for a couple years now that aliens were real, for example. But it all seemed so distant- it wasn't something that was part of MY world.

"Crime, stalkers, kidnappers, yes. Even spies. It's not like I didn't know that there was bad in the world. You, your team, and all things _otherworldly_ weren't part of my every day... You were real, but not at the same time. And obviously meeting you was a step toward that not being true anymore, albeit a small one. Some might even say that after the whole Vlatko thing, and with Ranger apparently knowing Clint AND Sam AND Rhodey, it was just a matter of time. But, I mean, Jesus Christ, Steve now I find out that I'm the result of some kind of alien experiments millennia ago, and I just..."

I trailed off and pantomimed my head exploding before breaking into a kind of hysterical half sob turned full-on ugly crying. Steve rocked me a little and made soothing noises until I stopped crying. Then he shifted and handed me a handkerchief.

"You keep handkerchiefs in your uniform?" I asked with an incredulous laugh.

"Well, I never know when I'm going to come across a pretty dame like yourself who will get understandably overwhelmed and need one." Then a haunted look crossed his face and he whispered, "or when a teammate will feel her twin's heart stop when he miraculously enters some kind of non-cold cryostasis lasting long enough for us to get him medical care."

It was obvious who he was talking about and that he was blaming himself for that as well. I tried poking Steve in the stomach, only to find it a bit like poking a wall and had to shake my hand out. "Don't go there, he's alive." Finishing wiping my face up, I awkwardly held the handkerchief until Steve chuckled and took it, tossing it on the table. "That's the part of those things I've never understood."

"I'm pretty sure that's why they invented Kleenex," Steve agreed. "Don't worry, I have dozens, and even if it didn't get used, I take the one in my uniform out when I take off the uniform. And I put a fresh, clean one in every time I put the uniform on."

"Eww, I assumed it was clean! I don't even..." I trailed off and shuddered at the thought of it not having been clean in the first place.

"Okay," Steve pressed, "now that we've gotten an emotional dump out of the way and side stepped for a while, let's go back to the question. Feeling anything else besides overwhelmed?"

I nibbled on my lip a little while I thought, until Steve reached a gentle hand up and tugged on my lip until I stopped. Then he dropped a sweet kiss onto that corner of my mouth. I barely registered the gesture at the time as I was so lost in trying to evaluate what I was feeling.

A smile broke out uncontrollably on my face, and Steve laughed and said, "what's that for?"

"Did you see what I could do? I'm awesome!"

"You really are," he agreed with another kiss. "You were before too, but those powers are definitely awe inspiring."

"I wonder if I can absorb an explosion. You know what I mean? What do you think would happen now if I was next to a bomb that went off?"

Steve paled a little and said, "I'd really rather not think about that."

"Sounds like Steve talking." Tilting my head to the side I asked, "what does the Captain think?"

"I love that you see the Captain as an entirely different persona; it's refreshing. I'm not sure though that even I can separate them that much."

"Try," I challenged, keeping quiet while he thought.

"Well, the Captain doesn't want things to get too convoluted, so he's going to stay out of the whole thing as much as possible, but he's hoping Hawkeye and the others successfully recruit you to the Avengers. Teammate or not, though, he's not a big fan of people getting blown up, so he'd prefer not to find out."

"He's curious though, isn't he?" I prodded.

With a sigh, Steve finally admitted, "yes. But seriously, that's way too dangerous! Please don't _try_ to find out!"

"Don't worry, I won't," I agreed. Then I quietly muttered, "it's not like it won't come up eventually anyway, even if I don't become an Avenger."

"You say that like you're seriously considering becoming an Avenger," Steve observed.

"Am I allowed to?"

A frown crossed his face, "what do you mean? I thought Clint made it clear that we'd like you to join the team. Why wouldn't you be allowed?"

"I mean, if I'm dating you. Is there some kind of no fraternization rule? Because I'd rather date you, if I have to choose between the two. I can go back to bounty hunting, and it's not like I've ever Avenged, so I wouldn't miss it or anything."

"It's not as though there are any bylaws to break. So, no, it's not against any rules. It'll be tough sometimes to separate out, so you should think about that while making your decision. You'd have to follow my orders in the field without any hesitation. More than that, when I give you specific orders, you have to carry them out no matter what- even if I'm in danger or you hear me get hit."

"You're talking like it's already a given."

"You started it," Steve retorted with a shrug. Then he added, "Bucky and Natasha are an item, and it works for them. I'm willing to try if you are."

"I'll think about it. Maybe I want to join my fellow Inhumans!" Steve tensed noticeably under me. "You don't like that idea; I thought you trusted them?"

"I do... To an extent. There's a reason I helped push for the Avengers to be separate from SHIELD though, even before SHIELD collapsed and made it a moot point. And no matter what else they call the team, if you join them, you'll be SHIELD. That means spies and all the lies that come with it as well as bureaucracy. Outside of the field, we still run the team with a loose hierarchy, but it's really more of a democracy."

"As far as Skye and Lincoln are concerned, what would you recommend?"

Steve rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, "Phil's always seemed like a good guy and Natasha and Clint respect and trust him."

"But?"

"My suggestion would be join the Avengers or go back to bounty hunting. Whatever you want to be your day to day, do that. But only help SHIELD occasionally, if you want to, as a consultant and on a case-by-case basis. And don't feel obligated to do so because they helped you through this. That isn't how this works. If you do take cases, insist, in writing, on full disclosure of ALL case _and related_ files for any and all missions you join. If they want your help, they can damn well give you the clearance level for it. They'll still hold some things back, but at least you'll have that you can use to get yourself out if you want."

"You used to be SHIELD even outside the Avengers, right? That's how you found the HYDRA infiltration?"

"Yes."

That meant he was speaking from experience, so I nodded my head. "Done. I'm not sure about the Avengers bit yet, but I won't join SHIELD full time."

"You don't have to say that or decide that just because I said-"

"I know, but in case you haven't figured it out yet, I trust you, especially where SHIELD is concerned. And I don't think I'm cut out for a military or similarly harsh hierarchy all day everyday anyway."

"I don't think Skye's team would be like that," he clarified, clearly wanting to make sure he was being sufficiently fair.

"But still. I'd rather only have to follow orders in battle anyway." Then I wiggled my brows and twisted to I could see Steve's face as I said, "well, maybe during personal time every once in a while."

"Noted," he said calmly, but I got a hint of a feeling that I thought might be _his_ lust wandering into my mind. I didn't feel right trying to push and test that theory though so I dropped it.

"I feel about a million other things, but those are the big ones." I said, then on further thought I said, "I am a little confused by my parents though. I mean, if it's genetic, it has to come from at least one of them, right? But I really just can't imagine either or them being powered in any way. If I had to guess though, I suppose I'd pick my dad because my mother has never actually understood me on any level."

"I don't know, Steph," Steve said offering me another hug as comfort.

We sat there for a few minutes in a silence that was comfortable this time, and I fully relaxed into Steve. Lazily I asked, "is the uniform comfortable?"

"Relatively speaking, yes. The spandex-y one from the Battle of New York was more so, but I felt way too on display in that thing. Plus this one has better armor and protection in it, holds more gear, and it still allows me more than enough freedom of motion."

I hummed in thought and said, "what the other one displayed did look damn good, for the record."

"Oh, you looked, did you?"

"I don't know many straight women or gay men who didn't put some of those pictures directly into their mental spank bank, Steve. You probably even made a few people think about broadening their preferences."

"I... Did not need to know that."

"Oh, are you trying to say you didn't already know it?!"

He grumbled before saying, "maybe, but I don't like hearing it. It's weird. To go from being a scrawny thing that no one looked at twice to this is disconcerting."

"I'll bet. These days Skinny Steve would have had people looking though," I argued. "Things have changed, and men don't _have_ to be manly."

"I know," Steve said. "Right now I smell pretty manly though, so why don't you let me up so I can clean up a little before lunch."

"Well, I wasn't going to say anything," I teased.

Steve pulled me into him hard and said, "admit it, you like it!"

I stuck my tongue out, and tried to wiggle out of his hold. When he tightened his grip, I stared pointedly at him, then let my energy come to the surface a little, knowing that my eyes would start doing their glowing thing.

"Hey, no using powers!" Steve laughed out.

Making a couple bigger attempts to get out, I laughed and said, "you were saying?" when I couldn't budge him even a little bit.

Steve, however, looked upset, so I clarified, "that wasn't a complaint, I'm just saying, fair is fair. I'd never hurt you though, and I wouldn't actually even playfully do anything more than glow around you until I was much more comfortable that I had everything under control."

"Steph, this is actually really important to me. I was just teasing you. I _want_ you to feel comfortable using your powers around me anytime you want to, and especially instinctively like that. Using them is the best way for you to learn to fine tune them. You may slip up at some point and burn me a little, toss me, or shock me, but I believe that you aren't going to seriously hurt me, accidentally or otherwise. And I think you need to believe that too so that you can get comfortable with what you can do now, okay?"

I watched Steve's expression carefully and realized that while I thought he'd been upset that I'd called him on using his super strength against me, he was actually bothered that I hadn't realized he was joking. As I nodded my head, I was surprised to see so much relief in his eyes. I wiggled a little to get him to free my arms, and I pulled them up to wrap around his neck.

Going up on tip toe, I used his shoulders to leverage myself up, forcing him to catch me even as we started kissing. To his credit, he didn't falter when adjusting to my weight, just accepted it easily. Another second later, he was moving and I felt my back pressed against a flat, empty stretch of wall.

I totally and completely failed to suppress a groan when Steve pressed himself more fully against me and deepened the kiss, taking control of it even though I had started it. He shifted us so that he could brace me with just one arm, giving him a hand that could freely wander. As his tongue set about mapping out the inside of my mouth, I felt his hand spread across my belly with his thumb at my hip, gradually toying with the waistband of my yoga pants.

I let my neck relax, and tilted my head back against the wall to give his mouth better access and control. Steve groaned in appreciation, and that damn thumb continued driving me crazy with lust. The sound knocked me out of my stunned stillness, and I allowed my hands to freely wander in search of something to get Steve out of the uniform.

Finally, in pure frustration, I ripped my mouth free and shouted, "is this secretly some sort of chastity device?!"

Steve let out a startled laugh then took in our position. I groaned in unfiltered disappointment when he pulled his wandering hand back and rested his head on my shoulder. "No, it's not that, but maybe in this instance it's a good reminder to not get carried away and take advantage."

"It's not taking advantage! I am fully on board; let's get carried all the way away."

Steve nibbled a little at my throat, which distracted me for a moment longer. Then he set me on my feet and took a small step away. "I'd love to get carried away," he started.

"Ugh! If ever a sentence had a but in it, it's that one!" I huffed out.

Steve grabbed my hand that I'd run through my hair in irritation and pressed a kiss to it. Then he smiled softly and said, "however," pausing to give me a pointed look, "I think today is not the day. So much has already happened, and as much as we'd both enjoy that particular brand of distraction, I want it to be more than that for us. More than just something thrown into the middle of so much emotional turmoil."

I sighed but refrained from eye rolling because he had a point. I'd been sobbing all over him not too long before, and it had been a challenging day for both of us. A shiver ran through my body as I remembered the absolute heartbreak Steve had displayed when I'd been cocooned in the cafeteria. I may have been transforming, but I'd seen it and been fully aware of what was happening.

I reached my hands up and placed them on either side of his face and met his gaze as I asked, "how are YOU doing?"

"I'm okay, really. This morning was rough but now I'm just grateful for every moment I get with you. Not that I wasn't before because I was. I'm just even more-"

His nerves were ratcheting up with each word he spoke until I took pity on him by cutting him off with a kiss.

"I think I know what you're trying to say," I assured him. "Now, if I'm not going to get lucky, you should probably get cleaned up. The others are waiting for us, after all."

Steve let out a deep chuckle, this one filled with promise as he said, "soon."

As he walked away, I took advantage of the opportunity to enjoy the view as his uniform put him on fine display. He stopped in the doorway and looked over his shoulder with a smoldering gaze as he said, "you don't need to wait here if you don't want to. I can catch up to you when I get out. I'll only be a few minutes either way."

 _ **Natasha's POV**_

I liked Steph. I was certain of that fact from the very first interaction Steve had with her. Perhaps it was the years I'd spent in the rigidity of the Red Room's program that made me enjoy anyone who could just go with the flow as easily as she did.

Of course, Steve was smitten, and Bucky was just way too excited by the idea of Steve having game and finally finding himself a girlfriend to be useful. Once Clint had arrived, it was possible he would have stepped up, but he'd given off too-friendly vibes to start.

That had just left me. For the good of the team and what we were building, I'd had to test the woman. Plus it was a bit of a tradition of mine with all the new hires. Unfortunately what I'd chosen as my weapon was much more powerful than I'd realized it would be.

I regretted the extent of the distress I'd caused her, and it was something I knew would require time to overcome. Helping Steph prepare for their date had been a start, but I would need to be at the top of my game for a while yet.

The events of Steph's transformation had been a shock, and it took a lot to make me feel that particular emotion anymore. Though I felt I had covered it well, I was at the very least relieved that she'd transformed _after_ I'd tested her. She was much more of a threat now, and I found it comforting to know she'd already proven herself trustworthy.

Bucky and I followed Scott wordlessly as he wandered through rows of storage before pulling something out of his pocket, placing it on an empty shelf, and then doing something to it that made it grow much, much larger. Judging by the way it seemed to perfectly fill the space, I could only assume it belonged there.

Finished, he turned and offered us a smile before asking, "so Cap's got a girl? And a powered one at that?"

I didn't say anything, just raised a brow and remained otherwise expressionless before stepping forward. From behind me, Bucky reached out and grabbed my dominant hand, my right, with his metal hand. Although we were both almost completely ambidextrous, it was a signal we'd worked out long ago.

By using the arm that was, without a doubt, his primary weapon to grab onto the hand I was most comfortable using to defend myself, he was silently signaling to me that I was not in danger. He didn't believe me to be at risk or find it likely that I would need to protect myself or go on the offensive. Of course, being who we were, he held on only long enough for me to receive the message before giving me back my full faculties.

I wasn't sure how thoroughly he understood the gesture, but Scott did nod his head at Bucky behind me and say, "Barnes." Then, in a move I recognized as a sign of goodwill, he allowed us to follow him all the way out to the edge of our property before he shrank out of sight. Moments later, I swore I saw a bee fly away, and when I turned back to Bucky he was grinning.

"You have weird friends, James," I teased.

"Oh, like you're one to talk, Widow." he shot back at me. In return I gave him the private smile I saved just for him, and once we were inside and away from prying eyes, I reached over and took his hand, even as I stood on tip toes to get a kiss.

"FRIDAY," I asked, "where are the others?"

"The team and guests have gone their separate ways before meeting up for lunch," came the reply as a map of the Avengers quarters and the suite of rooms I'd shown to Coulson's team popped up on a wall next to us, displaying each person's location. Tapping two dots that were practically on top of each other, I said, "Turns out Steph's a bit more than we bargained for."

Bucky slung his metal arm around my waist and said, "yes, and that just makes you think of her as more fun!"

As we approached the team quarters, I could see Coulson, Skye, and Lincoln waiting patiently outside. Bucky and I walked up, and allowed them into the space in front of us. Looking around, I noted almost everyone was there and said, "alright, where are Steve and Steph?"

"The adorable duo haven't surfaced yet," Sam said.

"Probably won't for a while," Rhodey murmured.

Bucky snorted and said, "I can pretty much guarantee you the Punk isn't doing what you think he is, not that it is any of your business."

Others looked less convinced, but I just maintained my cool demeanor when they looked to be gauging what I thought.

Unfortunately for Steph, she took that moment to walk out, so Clint playfully called out, "so how was it?"

When Steph flushed, I pulled out one of my disks that would stun him and threw it at him, raising my brow in surprise when it bounced off a blue shield. Looking at me, Steph smiled in gratitude then turned back to Clint and said, "mind your own business." Of course, that pesky habit she had of accidentally saying what she was thinking kicked in and she blurted out, "besides, if I'd gotten some, you'd know. I'm like a walking billboard for the benefits of sex when I do, and I have no doubt it'll be ten times worse when Steve-"

She cut off and the flush burned much brighter when she caught everyone gaping at her. "Yes, you did say that out loud," I waded in. "But we will all give you a break and pretend that we didn't hear it. After all, it's been a long day, and we wouldn't want to take advantage of you."

I could have sworn I heard her mutter, "I really wish someone would," but I wasn't certain until I felt Bucky vibrate with barely contained laughter behind me.

"So where is Steve?" Bucky asked, trying to steer the conversation onto safer ground.

"Oh, I cried and got snot all over him, so he's taking a shower," Steph said as she walked over to the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of water. "I'm thinking food then files?"

"You know, Steph," Sam cautiously waded into the conversation. "If you want to take the afternoon off, nobody will blame you."

Hearing that, Steph rolled her eyes before giving him a friendly pat on the cheek as she passed by him. Steve walked up just in time for Steph to hand him one of the water bottles which he opened, then handed back to her before taking the other and keeping that one for himself. It was comical to watch Steph puzzle out what had just happened before shrugging and drinking from her now opened bottle before saying, "Trenton may treat me like crap, especially the Burg. But it is home, and there are still a lot of people there I care about. Hell if I'm letting HYDRA spend one more day in there than I have to."

Yes, I liked Stephanie Plum a hell of a lot.


	15. Spying on Trenton

**Chapter 15 - Spying on Trenton**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

"You know I'm right!" I cried in exasperation.

Because I was watching carefully, I could see the moment Steve gave in. Offering one more token protest, he said in a broken voice, "we can't guarantee your safety."

I felt a simultaneous sigh of relief come from everyone else in the room when I sat and Steve finally moved back next to me. They'd been watching us like a tennis match, heads bouncing back and forth as we'd paced opposite sides of the room and argued. Now that we were next to each other, they wouldn't have to worry about whiplash.

"That's life, Steve. You're never going to be able to completely guarantee my safety, but yes, I realize that you will be even less able to do so when I do this," I said softly. "But even with the information I provided after going through your files, there isn't enough to make any progress. And you did a darn good job of making sure I could go back, so I don't see why we wouldn't use that! I can get us the closest!"

When I'd been arrested, I'd been kind of up shit creek without a paddle because I didn't have an alibi. "I watched him get kidnapped then was at home sleeping while he was detained," really didn't tend to go over well as far as proving innocence was concerned. Thankfully, it seemed after Rangeman had figured out who I'd helped and tracked down the Avengers, Natasha had gone through and made sure there was no video or picture on the face of the planet of what had happened outside the Club when Chianni had walked me out. No one else would be able to find the same information Ranger had. And how she'd actually created the video of Chianni walking back into the club under his own steam, I didn't really want to know.

Then the Avengers procured an alibi for me, in the form of one of their employees, Abigail, claiming she was a friend of mine. The story went that she'd visited from out of town and run into Chianni and I outside of Orlando's. Abigail had been staying on my couch when I'd had a break in, so she and I went on a little trip to her place in Delaware, to make sure I was safe. Officially I'd been with Abigail up until I'd gotten Grandma Mazur's message and rushed back to Trenton, so there was no way I'd kidnapped (or murdered) Chianni.

Of course, the cops who had kidnapped me knew at least part of that wasn't true. They couldn't call me on that, however, without implicating themselves. And that was how my lawyers had gotten me released. It also meant I could go back to Trenton, and have a relatively intact "cover" for my investigation in the form of just my regular life. In fact, I probably needed to go home very soon, otherwise it would get suspicious. I'd been gone about a week, which I could explain away as having been out of town on a job for Rangeman, but anything longer would be unrealistic.

I had just successfully convinced Steve that was the best way for us to get information on the Trenton HYDRA cell. I would go back to my apartment and, concerned for my safety, Rangeman would make a show of increasing my apartment security system.

No to mention that, with my new powers, I was fairly capable of handling myself. Certainly more so than I had been in the past.

While in Trenton, I would do my best not to use those powers, but I would go on a skip BINGE. Everyone would assume it was because, after a few days off, then helping Ranger, I would be in desperate need of the money. That and Vinnie would be freaking out about the number of skips that needed to come in. I'd use those skips as an excuse to spend as much time inside the police station as possible.

My hope was that my newly enhanced spidey sense would allow me to more efficiently identify the bad guys if I was actually in their presence.

Steve, of course, was concerned. And while he actually wasn't alone in that, he was the loudest in voicing those concerns. Once he agreed and we settled into seats next to each other, I grabbed his hand and held it.

His touch was reassuring as that had been our first real fight. It had been somewhat public, but we'd both handled it respectfully and there was no cursing, name calling, or wild gesturing involved. Maybe I'd grown up.

It was tempting to say all the screaming fights with Morelli must have been his fault then since I didn't have the problem with Steve, but that wasn't fair. As much of an ass as he was, at least a little of the blame was mine. And at least I'd matured out of the behavior. Or so it seemed.

I was also pleased that I hadn't lost control of my powers while arguing. It was something I'd been warned about by both Skye and Lincoln, but it probably helped that I'd had a couple of days to work on my control before the argument... There'd been one incident while going through files the first day and getting angry, so I knew it was a real concern.

I was proud of my control, and the way Steve was rubbing my hand made me think he was too. Good. Hopefully that would make it easier for me to convince him to try out getting freaky with me sometime soon.

Skye and Lincoln had very obviously hinted at that concern, and Steve had been reluctant to even have another full blown make-out session with heavy petting again. It was like he was afraid I'd orgasm, lose control, and blast off something vital. At this point, I was starting to feel like he should be more concerned if I _didn't_ get any.

The tinkle of Wanda's laughter in the corner of my mind had me looking at her and shrugging in shared amusement.

"At least when she does that with Pietro, we can dismiss it as a twin thing," Sam said to me, interrupting a displeased Natasha. "When you do it with her though, it's just obviously freaky."

"Awwww, you jealous?" I teased. "I'm sure Wanda would be happy to-"

I was cut off by a barked "no" that echoed through the room.

"It's your loss," I replied. "She's a cool girl with a wicked sense of humor."

Steve chuckled deeply next to me, and brought his other hand over too so that he was cupping mine in both of his as the planning continued.

As the strategizing started wearing down, I resigned myself to what I knew I had to do next. With my free hand, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed my parents house.

"Hi, Ma," I said calmly when she answered. Then I pulled my phone away from my ear and set it on the table as she started verbally railing at me. Although the phone wasn't on speakerphone, it seemed Steve's hearing was good enough to tell what she was saying, and his hands clamped firmly into mine in distress for my own emotional welfare.

Using my free hand, I patted on his to offer him my reassurance. A quick look at Bucky and his tense, working jaw told me he could also hear.

Noticing that she'd trailed off, I scooped the phone back up and said, "yes, Mother. I can be there for dinner, and no, I don't need you to set me up."

"If you would just get married-". I pulled the phone away again, and this time I could see both Bucky and Steve holding back laughter, so I shot them both my best Burg Glare.

Hearing silence again, I said into the phone, "because I'm already seeing someone, that's why I don't want you to set me up. And no, he's not going to come to dinner tonight, it's too early for that." Reluctantly I winced as I grumbled, "maybe another time."

"You know, you're not getting any younger!" She screamed out, and this time I could tell that everyone had heard that comment.

I had to tug my hand free from Steve's so I could burying my head in my hands and groan, "I know, Ma. I figured out how time works a while ago."

Once I finally got her off the phone, Lincoln cleared his throat. "In the interest of full disclosure, you're obviously not getting any younger. You've still been alive for the same number of years as you had been before transforming."

"But?" I squeaked out.

"Inhumans tend to live longer," Skye rattled out excitedly.

"Huh," I said not really sure how to process that information. "How much longer?"

"Without terrigenesis, 150 years would be average. After terrigenesis that could stay the same or get longer."

I cast a glance at Steve out of the corner of my eye that he responded to with a shrug. He didn't know how long he would live. "Well," I eventually said, "I'll just work on living through this next stretch in Trenton first."

"People will be suspicious of you," Natasha reminded me. "You're going for one week, tops. And if you even slightly think you're made, you call for an extraction and we take what you've learned and regroup."

"And we'll find another way," Steve promised emphatically, which was reaffirmed by everyone else in the room as well.

And so it was that I found myself back in Trenton, and after five days, a few things were clear. One, I fit back into my life in Trenton frighteningly easy. From the excruciating family dinner made better only by Grandma Mazur's outrageous antics and my father's oddly comforting presence to the crazy skips, it was like I'd never left.

Two, I really missed Steve. I was trying to come to grips with the idea of just how much I had apparently come to rely on his presence over the less than a week that I had been with him. He'd only been my boyfriend for a handful of days, but his absence was wearing on me and had been from my first night back in Trenton. It was pathetic, but I didn't really care. Take away my feminist card, but I didn't want to sleep without his arms wrapped around me, making me feel safe.

Three, there might be a case to be made for renaming Trenton to Denmark because something was definitely rotten. HYDRA was definitely being sneaky, assuming it was them, and their double-crossing dirty cops were well trained to keep their traps shut, but something had to shake loose soon. If my count was right, there were too many of them to actually keep a secret. And it seemed some of my bugs were managing to live through the routine sweeps, which was only going to help. I had no idea from where Ranger had gotten them, but they were amazing- so small they merely looked like pieces of lint or minor imperfections on whatever surface I placed them.

And finally, four. I was being followed. I'd been followed from day one of my return to Trenton by a friendly presence, and that had been just fine. Three guesses who it was keeping an eye out on me, and odds were the answer would be that all three were taking turns. Spies/assassins were just kind of like that, was my guess, and I figured it wasn't worth mentioning. I'd be curious to find out when I got back to the Avengers what more they had found than I had; I was certain I'd learn a lot from reading their reports.

The real problem had arisen on the last day in the form of an additional presence following me. And unlike what I was mentally referring to as the CliTasCky (Clint/Natasha/Bucky) presence, my spidey sense was screaming that it was all murderous/harmful intentions. As much as I didn't want to chicken out, I'd promised. So as soon as I made it safely back inside my apartment, I would be calling Steve for the extraction.

At least that meant snuggles in my future. And I was hoping for sex too because it had been a while. Not that anyone who saw Steve would question me or ask me to justify wanting to jump his bones. I was trying to wait and go at his speed, but my lady parts were demanding that I at least apply _some_ pressure to try to speed up that timeline. Especially if HYDRA wanted to kill me. If I died before I got to have sex with Steve, I was going to be so pissed off that I was going to haunt the _entire world_.

 _ **Steve's POV**_

Steph had been in Trenton for almost the full week, and I knew I was acting sullen. I had spent the entire time trying to convince Natasha to dye my hair again and send me back to Steph.

When we had come up the plan, I'd lied to myself. I told myself it wouldn't bother me to have her gone, after all, I'd only had her around for a week. And, although I wanted her safe, I told myself that she'd find someone after her and have to call for an extraction early so it wouldn't really be a week anyway.

Like I said, I'd lied.

At least Steph had the phone we'd given her before she left, an uglier version of the one we'd originally given her that was heavily secured. With that, Steph had called me after dinner the first night back. Then, after we'd talked for so long, she'd called me every night, and sometimes during the day too.

Still talking to her on the phone was nowhere near as good as talking to her in person. And I was man enough to admit that I'd missed kissing her.

The work she was doing was valuable though, and I couldn't begrudge her or the team the fact that it was true. She'd identified several more persons of interest, bumped some down a few levels of suspicion, and, at Ranger's prodding, had managed to plant several bugs and trackers on people.

I was mulling this over quietly at lunch while the rest of the team chattered around me when Natasha slid into the empty spot next to me. She'd been the last one to arrive as she'd been training support staff recruits, and it appeared she was hungry the way she dug into her sandwich. Noticing it was a meatball sub, I couldn't hold back one sigh that had Natasha laughing. "Don't worry, Rogers, you're going in."

"Is something wrong with Steph? She's been made? She's in danger?" I straightened up as I asked, noticing everyone else doing the same.

"No, I just can't stand looking at your sad face anymore and I figured out a way to get you in. You'll have to stay inside and out of sight until she's ready to come back though." I nodded eagerly at that, standing up quickly. Natasha just tugged me back down as she continued, "you might as well finish that, I'm finishing mine! And from what I understand, your girlfriend keeps her cabinets bare and her fridge empty."

I frowned at that and furrowed my brow, even as Mary walked up with several grocery bags filled to the brim with food. "A little birdie told me," she said with a wink.

I looked over at Sam, and Clint burst out, "hey! I'm offended! I was 'Hawkeye' way before he was 'Falcon'!"

"Technically," Vision intervened. "I do not believe that 'hawkeye' is a type of bird."

"Oh shove off, Mr. Roboto, people call me 'Hawk' too sometimes!"

Vison's lips twitched and I took a moment to appreciate the sense of humor he was developing. It was still rather similar to Stark's because of the influence of JARVIS's programming, but he was learning to add his own inflections and timings to get a variety of effects.

"Probably Steve just assumed you wouldn't think about making sure others had food," Natasha told Clint. "You can barely take care of yourself sometimes. In reality, I didn't tell anyone, so that means..."

I shifted my gaze over to Wanda who was smiling into her plate. When she looked up, I offered my thanks by nodding my head in her direction.

"She's fine," Wanda reassured me. "And I just figured you might need some sustenance. It was no big deal. All I did was let slip that you needed five days worth of food."

"Wait, but she's there for two more days after today max, right?" I asked puzzled.

"I didn't want you to run out in case you were extra hungry or got stuck longer than planned," she retorted casually.

When I finished my food, I cleared my tray. I came back for the bags of groceries, and Bucky just reached over and knocked my hands out of the way. "I'll handle those," he said. "Just go pack a bag and meet us at the Quinjet."

Of course I trusted him, so I left the bags and went back to my room at a jog, barely acknowledging Natasha's call of "hide your shield in your bag" that followed me. Within an hour, I was inside Steph's apartment, let in by a code provided to me by Ranger. As I looked around, I felt a pang knowing how hard she'd worked over the past several years but how barren the place appeared. Still, it was much better than anything Bucky and I had lived in before the war.

I carefully set my shield by the front door, unpacked the groceries, and placed my duffle with clothes in the bedroom, glancing around only briefly. Then I settled in to wait, knowing full well that Steph's hours were often long and always unpredictable. And they would be even more so as she was really working two jobs at the moment.

I spent the time working on reports on a tablet I had brought with me and sifting through email. There was a daily update from our lawyers on the attempts various countries were making to have the Avengers held accountable for the vast amounts of damage done by Ultron.

In the list of emails that I'd been procrastinating responding to was an invitation to attend an updated version of the Smithsonian exhibit on me. It was one of those things that made me supremely uncomfortable, even though I knew I was expected to be there. I looped Pepper in on the email and decided to make my attendance (with a plus one) contingent on being able to advertise within the exhibit for the Avengers Relief Fund. It was difficult to convince them as the Smithsonian had their own fundraising to do, but in the end, they gave in. The price was a black tie gala benefiting both organizations, but another few hours of boredom seemed a price worth paying. Especially if I could convince Steph to go with me.

Pepper sent me a few text messages in the side with additional information and instructions. The gala was only two weeks away, so when Darcy Lewis arrived with Jane Foster, making sure all the pieces fell into place would be the first activity of Darcy's new job. Apparently I'd agreed to hire her on as the Avengers' Team Manager when I brought Pepper into the email thread on an already busy day. It was said without heat and from everything I already knew about Darcy, that seemed like it would be an unconventional, but good fit. After all, the team was anything but conventional. I was also instructed to invite Steph that night so that when Natasha took her dress shopping, she wouldn't be surprised.

Thankfully the text conversation that had turned into a group conversation with the entire team plus Tony and Pepper about how to ask Steph was cut short on my end by the sounds of movement on my end. I pulled up the security feed Ranger had routed onto my tablet and chuckled to myself.

Grabbing my phone off the table, I dialed Steph's number, satisfied when she picked up on the first ring.

"Hey, Steve. Not a great time, I'm trying to talk myself out of shooting this goddamn keypad! Hector will never let me live it down if I do, but it won't let me in my FUCKING apartment."

"Deep breath, Sweetheart." I started, and I could practically feel her eye roll through the phone. "#19180704#"

My response was a squeal of delight as Steph hung up the phone, so I stood and just a few seconds later Steph was slamming into me at full speed while pulling my head down for an enthusiastic kiss. When she finally pulled her mouth away, I had her in my arms. I carried her back to the front door to properly secure it behind her and then carried us back to the couch.

I flopped down on my back so that Steph was laying on top of me and as I started trailing kisses down her neck she asked, "how on earth did you remember that code on your first try?!"

"Well," I murmured while continuing the press kisses to her, "two ways. First, I have a perfect memory, so I'd do it with any code. Second, that's my birthday, Sweetheart. I think someone was trying to make it easy for you."

"No, your birthday is in July not, January ninety f… oh, I see. Year first. Is this like how they use military time all the time because-" I cut her off with a kiss because it really didn't matter at the moment, and it seemed like Steph agreed when she sighed and I felt her hands start wandering.


	16. Visitors

**A/N:** What's that? Oh yes, the smut warning. This chapter contains smut, as might any future chapter. If you need to know in advance, let me know and I can warn you. Otherwise, happy reading!

 **Chapter 16 - Visitors**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

As soon as I got to my apartment door and Steve called me with the code, I knew he was inside. Minutes later he was making me forget all about the stupid passcode (If you want to make it easy, Hector, explain the secret to me!). Stretched out on top of him, I could feel every inch of his body beneath me, and my goal became to enjoy as much of it as possible before he got all chivalrous and made us stop.

I was expecting my shirt to come off as it had in the past, though not as quickly as Steve seemed to be moving this time. Unfortunately, when he pulled back to take care of it, he got his first really good look at me. That brought a halt to things.

"What are you covered in?" he asked hesitantly.

"Don't worry, it's not blood," I said.

"Well, of course not, it's nowhere near the right color. It's more… and actually you smell kind of like-"

"It's tomato sauce!" I spat out. Huffing out an impatient breath, I added, "do you really want to hear this story right now, or would you rather do something else? Although, maybe I should take a shower really quickly."

In answer, Steve pulled my lips back down to his and thrust his tongue into my mouth in a move that made his preference between the options unquestionably clear. What I didn't anticipate was that he would follow the action up by sliding both hands back down to either ass cheek. Cupping them firmly, he easily sat up with me in his arms then swung us around and stood. Truthfully I wasn't paying that much attention, as my eyes were closed and he was kissing me deeply.

I figured I'd find myself on my bed momentarily, but instead I was set back on my feet. Steve pulled my shirt off and when I opened my eyes, I realized we were in my tiny bathroom. If we were getting full on naked and wet together, maybe it was my lucky day after all.

Testing the theory, I pulled at Steve's shirt, satisfied when he immediately let me strip it, with his undershirt, off over his head. I would have gotten distracted at the sight of his torso if he hadn't flipped the button of my pants open at that moment.

My eyes rushed up to his, and as he slid the zipper down he ordered, "say the word and we'll stop."

When I nodded my head, he knelt down in front of me and pulled my pants and underwear off in one go. Huh. When and where had I lost my shoes? I opened my mouth to ask, but his hands came up and parted my folds while his tongue reached out to lap at my center and I lost all ability to speak. Steve took a couple minutes to get the lay of the land, trying out different motions to figure out which made me have to shove a hand in my mouth to keep from screaming.

Eventually, he had that sorted and, eyes looking up at me from his position on the ground, moved one hand to slowly allow his index finger to enter me. His eyes went dark when I felt my internal muscles clamp around him reflexively, not wanting to let him retreat. He did anyway, setting a steady pace before carefully slipping a second finger in. With a wicked grin, he picked up the pace, crooked his fingers forward and I went off like a firecracker.

Because he was watching my face, he saw the instant his actions shifted from pleasurable to uncomfortably too much and withdrew, pressing a soft kiss to my belly. My arms that had been bracing me with my palms down on the counter behind me felt a little weak, so I slid down a little to rest on my elbows. Watching me with a totally deserved look of pride on his face, Steve stood and walked over to the shower, turning it on.

"You know," he teased gently, while pulling the rest of his clothes off. "You might want to watch that volume. Otherwise your neighbors might get nervous and call the cops."

I couldn't stop myself from licking my lips as I took in the sight of his fully nude body, but I did manage a semi-coherent response, "they're old, and it's late. Hearing aids out. They won't hear us."

Steve stepped forward and removed the bra that I still had on, but kept his gaze seriously on my face as he said, "Steph, I'd really, really like to get in that shower with you and, if it's alright with you, make love while testing how true that statement is." Completely on board with that plan, I sat up and reached to pull him into me for a new kiss, but he held back. "I want to hear you say it, Steph. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes," I said desperately trying to get contact.

This time Steve smiled and let me kiss him enthusiastically, noticing but not really caring about the taste of myself on him. I thought he'd pull me into the shower at that, but he pulled back again chuckling a little and giving me a kiss on the nose when I whined in frustration.

"Safety?" He asked in apparent shorthand, which worked because I absolutely knew what he meant.

"Oh, uh," I started a little awkwardly looking down at the ground while I tried to figure out how to word it.

Steve just gently pulled my chin up so I met his gaze and prompted, "yes?"

"I, uh, already talked about that with Dr. Cho. She has all my medical records, I'm clean, by the way. And she told me you're incapable of catching or carrying anything. Then, uh, we talked about options and she gave me an implant in my arm that will keep me from getting pregnant for at least three years, so we can use condoms if you want, but as far as I'm concerned we don't need to."

At that point, Steve's eyes looked almost completely black as he groaned a little before he nodded his head eagerly and then pulled me up and back into his arms. This time he moved to the shower, testing the water temperature with is hand before stepping in still carrying me. With most men, I would have been wary of slipping or dropping, but I knew I was safe in Steve's arms.

Ever so carefully, earning that trust, Steve set me on my feet under the water, allowing me to dunk my hair and rinse myself off. Then, just as carefully as he had put me down, he picked me up again. Only needing one hand to hold me and maneuver me, Steve slid his other hand up to cradle the back of my head protectively.

In between kisses, he said urgently, "Steph, put your legs around my waist, please."

As soon as I did so, he pushed himself slowly but firmly into me. I was grateful for the hand protecting my head as I let my head drop backward and let out a groan ten times as potent as I'd probably ever allowed to escape while eating any dessert in my life.

"Steph," Steve whispered out my name like a benediction and I opened my eyes to find him watching me. I smiled broadly and then rolled my hips, happily noting the choked sound he made in response. When he spoke once more, it was pure heat rather than reverence as he groaned out, "fuck."

I hummed in agreement at that simple plan as he started moving, thrusting in and out of me. Once I picked up the pace, I rolled my hips so that I could rub my clit against his pelvis with each thrust. Secretly I hoped no one could hear us because there was no stopping myself as I practically chanted Steve's name along with reassurances and encouragement to thrust harder.

This time as I felt my orgasm build, it felt more intense than the first, as though that one had just been a warm up. When I started to close my eyes, Steve commanded, "no Steph. I want to see you this time, and I want you to see me."

Without consciously deciding to do so, my body obeyed his command and my eyes snapped open once more. Steve picked up the pace, and I could almost feel my body heating up.

"Steve," I warned. "I don't know what-"

I was cut off as Steve's lips found mine again for a moment as he stepped back a little, causing me to lean back farther to still be against the wall. Hardly missing a beat, he shifted his grip and then pulled back to stare in my eyes lovingly once more as he began to hit a new spot inside of me each stroke.

Half a dozen thrusts later, his deep voice once again brokering no argument as he instructed me, "let go, Steph."

So I did, orgasm overtaking me and allowing me to fly over the edge. I heard Steve's shout of triumph as he pounded me through the orgasm before following me over the edge. I had to admit I did enjoy watching him lose himself before his mouth pressed sweetly back to mine. Steve's hips gave a few more weaker strokes, and each time I felt him pulse inside of me, my muscles contracted in a small aftershock as though trying to get every last drop out of him.

Gently, Steve stepped forward again until his body was fully pressing me up against the wall and we continued to kiss for several more minutes. The hand that had been protecting my head ran soothingly up and down my body.

As I felt myself drift back from my state of bliss, I mentally took stock.

"I didn't start any fires or blast anything off of you, right?" I asked cautiously.

Steve was pressing kisses down my neck to my chest, and I groaned even as he reassured me, "no, you didn't. But I definitely felt something pass between you and me. And you know that over-energized feeling you were talking about that first day? Well, I think you managed to transmit that from you to me."

"Are you serious?" I asked. To my utter embarrassment, with my filter apparently gone, I continued. "Is that why you came so much, yet are still-"

I cut off with a moan as Steve moved inside me once more. Then I let out a cry of disbelief when he pulled out and set me on my feet right in front of the wall. Of course, then he spun me around and gently kicked my feet apart just a tad. Once that was done, he put my hands up flat against the wall and pulled my hips back, encouraging me to lean forward.

He bent his knees so he could line himself up with my entrance then leaned forward, nibbling on my ear as he asked, "is this okay?"

"Oh, God, yes." I let it out on a wail then whined, "please, Steve!"

With a sexy grunt he pushed into me once more and then whispered in my ear, "this is the serum at work. It always took at least two times to go down, and yes, it was always… excessive. But who knows, maybe your powers will enhance the effect."

I made a sound in the back of my throat that even I didn't know if it was trepidation or excitement, but either way, Steve's slow, deep thrusts had me slowly feeling like a third orgasm was a totally reasonable expectation. And like it really wasn't going to take all that much to get me there.

While it didn't take my libido long to catch on, it seemed that after his first orgasm, Steve was feeling playful. Each time he built me up, he'd pause. If I let on to my frustration, he'd simply let out one of those sinful laughs and then the pause would turn into a full on wait. Often, he'd pull me upright to change the angle or slide his hands up to play with my breasts. Or even more deliciously torturously he'd bring one hand up to my breasts and slide the other down to play with my clit. All while not moving until the moment when I reached the absolute peak of my frustration- then he'd start gliding smoothly in and out of me once more.

After being toyed with so much, I reached an almost painful place where I didn't think I'd be able to make it over the top again after all. I thought that idly in the back of my mind up until the moment that Steve picked up the pace once more. Then it was a quick race until I came so hard I couldn't hold back a scream. Oh, and the light bulbs on the vanity exploded. Steve didn't even flinch, just kept up his pace until I was leaning limply against the wall, then he fastened his mouth to my shoulder, pushed himself into me as close and as deeply as he could, and held perfectly still as I felt him pulsing inside me over and over again.

As we slowly tried to catch our breaths, I became aware of a pounding out in the living room. Steve stiffened, but I immediately recognized the voice of the building super, Dillon, calling out to ask if I was alright.

"Alright, you win," I hissed out to Steve. "That's the building super, someone must have called him."

I rushed to get out of the shower and wrap a towel around me while Steve was laughing. The troll.

"Shut up!" I whisper-yelled. "I assume you don't want people to know you're here, so you better act like you're not here."

By the time I stepped into the living room, I could hear additional thundering footsteps and silently cursed myself. I opened the door just a crack so that the security chain was on and I could peek out at Dillon.

"Hey, Steph. Are you okay?" Dillon asked, stuttering a little as he took in my appearance.

Behind him I saw that it was Ram, Cal, Bobby _and_ Lester who had come to my "rescue" because of course that's how my life went. Bobby looked me over head to toe, no doubt looking for injuries as I responded that everything was fine. That was of course until I saw Bobby's eyes go wide when they got to right around my calves. He made a fake coughing sound that drew Dillon's attention as I wiggled my foot behind me to try to tell what he was looking at.

That's when I felt it. Something hard, curved, and definitely metallic feeling. My eyes bugged out, and I shifted myself so that I was angled more between what I was fairly certain was Steve's shield and Dillon's line of sight.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Dillon asked uncomfortably. "I had multiple tenants call saying you had screamed."

"Oh, yeah. I thought I saw a mouse, but it was just Rex," I said nodding my head solemnly.

Dillon leaned back and whispered something to Ram who made a gesture of understanding before clapping Dillon on the back and guiding him out of the way. Once Dillon disappeared out of sight, I sagged against the door frame.

"Might as well let us in, Beautiful," Lester said. "We have to at least stay in long enough to do a security sweep before we're seen leaving again."

"I'd really rather not," I said trying to sound casual but wincing as my voice squeaked.

I felt a big hand settle on my hip, and was proud of myself for not jumping at the unexpected contact. Steve pulled me back into him, and shut the door, murmuring, "he's right, we need to make this look normal."

Steve undid the chain and stayed out of sight behind the door as he opened it again, admitting the four Merry Men. When Lester filed in last, I moved to shut the door, but was stopped by one mocha latte colored hand.

"Perfect," I thought to myself as Ranger and Tank slid in with the latter shutting the door behind him and leaning against it. "Four isn't bad enough, I had to go for a full half dozen witnesses to this moment."

Ranger's lips twitched and Lester said, "a full half dozen? I don't think that works. How can it be full if it is just half a dozen?"

I growled at him and stormed off into the bedroom to pull on some clothes. Steve stepped into the bedroom behind me, and pulled me into a hug. "I'm sorry-"

I cut him off with a quick, but not at all chaste kiss. "I really hope you're not sorry because I'm not! I just wish that we could be basking instead of dealing with those guys. And yeah, I a little bit wish they didn't know but not because I'm embarrassed _of_ you, I just am embarrassed that they know what I was just doing… I would have rather the fact that we just did all that remain private."

Steve pressed a quick kiss to my forehead, "I understand. Why don't you pull some clothes on so that we can go reassure them that everything is fine, and then we can get to that basking." He started to move away, then instead pulled me close so I could feel him stir against me a little as he added, "maybe put something on that's easy to take off? And we can do some celebrating then some basking."

I audibly gulped, making Steve smile wide as he turned away from me. I did at least take comfort in the fact that he stood at the bedroom door and took a deep breath before adjusting himself and stepping back out into the living room. Once the door was closed again, I frantically looked at myself in the mirror and pulled a my hair into a ponytail.

After a brief consideration, I pulled on a sundress and with a little wicked smile in the mirror, decided not to put panties on under it. I'd just have to be very careful until the guys left, which I was hoping would be very, very soon.

 _ **Steve's POV**_

Just like Steph, I wasn't particularly pleased to have our bubble burst by the men of Rangeman. Even though she'd reassured me that anything she and Ranger had in the past was over, it was disconcerting to have him in particular show up in our apartment, clearly knowing what we had just been up to.

Still, there was nothing we could do about it at this point, so I squared my shoulders and marched myself back into the living room. Behind me, I could hear the shower turn back on, and I realized we'd never gotten around to the actual cleaning products part of the shower. Although I was sure she'd be quick for my benefit, I realized Steph was going to be a few minutes. And those were minutes I wanted to fill rather than face the gathered firing squad.

My first stop was the front door where I picked up my shield and moved it to the other side of the door. I liked it less in that location as far as defense was concerned, but decided it was better in terms of keeping my presence unknown. It also had the benefit of being at an angle such that it shouldn't be visible from the window if the security window somehow got broken and allowed someone to be able to see in.

Next I walked over to the kitchen and set the oven to preheat. I opened the refrigerator and started pulling things out, moving quickly and efficiently around. In no time at all, I had garlic bread and a large lasagna in the oven to heat up. While it did, I pulled out a bunch of ziploc bags of vegetables and other salad ingredients. Reaching into a cabinet above the fridge, I got myself a large bowl with some salad tongs sitting in it.

From the looks of it, neither had been used in a very long time, so I walked over to the sink and washed both. As I was moving, I could feel the eyes boring into the back of my head, but no one said a word. After I dried the bowl off, I threw the salad ingredients into the bowl and pulled out an italian dressing, setting it on the counter until it was time to eat. I took my time washing my hands again, then leaned back against the oven door both my ankles and arms crossed in front of me.

I studied each man carefully as the silence droned on and finally, as Steph stepped out of the room I asked, "can we help you gentlemen with something? Because I know you all knew I was here, so even if Dillon called you, you could have tried to contact either Steph or I before you made it here."

"We didn't realize we'd be interrupting-" Lester started.

"Bullshit you didn't," Steph blurted out. "I was under the impression that everyone had said their piece and we'd settled this whole thing."

Then she turned on Ranger and asked, "was this your idea?"

Ranger sighed and actually looked a little hurt as he said, "Babe, I was trying to intercept them before they got to your door."

Steph studied him before nodding, and walking over to give hugs to both Tank and Ranger. Then she jutted her chin out and faced the rest of the guys.

"We wanted to make sure he wasn't taking advantage," Bobby started.

"He's not," Steph said firmly.

Behind her, Ranger was staring at his men expectantly, and finally they each muttered out "I'm sorry Steph."

Steph huffed out a breath and crossed her arms looking very irritated. Then she pointedly looked in my direction, and I got four reluctant versions of, "sorry Steve."

"I'm glad to know that Steph's family is still watching out for her so carefully," I replied, offering an olive branch. "I'd like to reassure you, once again, that I have nothing but the best of intentions."

The four nodded their heads sullenly, and I looked over at Steph. She smiled at me hesitantly, so I winked at her. Turning once more to the group at large I asked, "now, would you like to join us for dinner before you go?"

It looked as though Lester was going to take me up on the offer, but Tank just moved and grabbed him by the back of the collar and started marching toward the door as he replied for the group, "no, but thank you for the offer. You two have a good night, and call or set off one of the alarms if you need us."

I watched Steph through slightly hooded eyes as she walked the others to the door and shut it behind them, sliding the chain into place and doing up all the additional bolts as though she was planning to be in for the rest of the night. I certainly hoped she was because that was my plan as well.

When she came walking back, I held my arms out and pulled her into me as soon as she was within reach. I slid my hands down the back of her dress from her shoulders down to her butt, groaning a little when I felt a distinct lack of both a bra and underwear.

The sound of the giggle she let out was music to my ears even if it was followed by, "not so fast, Mister. Now that you've mentioned lasagna, I am too hungry to get into any funny business before we eat!"

Her stomach growled to prove her point, so I nodded my head where it was resting on hers, knowing she'd be able to feel it. We stayed like that, blissfully basking in our deepened relationship until it was time to eat dinner.


	17. Fire

**Chapter 17 - Fire**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

After dinner, Steve and I had worked together to clean up the dishes, including the salad bowl I hadn't even known I had. There weren't any leftovers because Steve's appetite really was the stuff that legends are made of, but I noticed a whole heck of a lot of food sitting in the fridge when I put the salad dressing away. It was a relief to know that I wasn't going to have to go to the grocery store or pretend that I knew how to cook for him.

As soon as I'd put the last dish away, Steve had picked me up and we'd proceeded to celebrate our newly physical relationship on the kitchen counter… then the kitchen floor. Probably if I'd thought about the last time I'd cleaned said floor, I would have stopped that one before it got going. In reality, however, it was too late to care when I had the realization in our post coital state. Instead, I rushed Steve off the floor and onto my bed.

"Maybe we should actually do that in the bed at some point," I posited through a yawn with my head on Steve's chest and his hand gently stroking my arm. When he mumbled something in response, I couldn't quite hear it. So I propped myself up on my elbow, taking in his blush, and asked, "what was that?"

Steve blew out a breath and said, "I'm ninety percent sure I'd break this bed if we tried. Your couch as well."

"Did you… assess my furniture's sturdiness when you got here?" I asked in disbelief.

"Well, I was hoping we might take our relationship to the next step sometime in the next couple of days, and experience has taught me that breaking a bed is a bit of a mood killer."

"First, if you hadn't given it up, I might have gone crazy. Second, ooh, prior experience involving furniture breaking?! Do tell!" I teased, wiggling my eyebrows down at him.

Steve laughed but gently rolled us over so he was pressing me into the mattress as he said, "hey, your ex showed up minutes after we finished our first time together, and I was nice! I even invited him to stay for dinner. Don't you think I deserve a little nice in return?"

"Okay," I agreed. "Thank you for being _nice_."

Steve gave me another kiss before rolling us back over and saying, "you're welcome."

"So we can just never have sex on a bed? Not that I'm complaining because that does get the creative juices flowing, I'm just… trying to figure this out."

I looked over as Steve turned bright red again, and he said, "my bed at headquarters is specially made."

Deciding to be _nice_ , I said, "well, that's good, and for all we know that's not the only thing we'll need to work out a solution for, given what happened to my lights. Oh shit, I need to clean up the bathroom floor!"

"I already handled it," Steve replied, soothing me back down as I'd sat up upon my realization. "Let's get some sleep okay? How'd you sleep this week?"

"Horribly," I admitted.

"Me too," Steve said. I pressed a kiss to his chest, and he returned the gesture with a kiss on my head. Then I allowed the exhaustion of almost a week of limited sleep and several rounds of lovemaking lull me to sleep.

I woke up knowing something was wrong and gently eased away from Steve, trying to figure out what. I preferred not to wake him unless it actually was an emergency. The longer I sat there though, the louder my spidey sense started screaming. I got up, pulling on a large shirt, knowing Steve had left his shield in the living room.

At the same time I took my first step through the bedroom doorway, straddling the line into the living room I heard something hit the safety glass. Before I'd even fully turned, the entire window pane had shattered.

I thought Ranger had installed it precisely so that wouldn't happen, but this didn't seem like the time to dwell on that fact. Knowing Steve would have woken up I yelled, "call for backup; I'm grabbing your shield!"

Looking at the now exposed window, I realized that I was now at risk of being sniped. I slid across the floor, wincing as I felt the skin of my exposed leg tear. When I felt the pain in the first leg, I instinctively rolled to the other side and thought, "great, Stephanie, now both your legs have whatever the hardwood and bits of glass equivalent of road rash is!"

A short tank top and lacy undies under it were not good uniform choices, it seemed. I didn't make it to the shield before the second shot was fired through the remnants of my window. It was a container that looked to be about the size of a gallon jug of milk. On contact with my floor, it smashed open and burst into flames.

Steve ran to the bedroom door, wide eyed, and assessed the situation. Calling his name, I slid his shield across the ground to him. He caught it up in his hands, but he was still trapped in my bedroom.

Taking a fortifying breath I walked toward him. "Steph, just go! I'll get out of here!"

"You can't go through the fire escape stairs, they're shooting from out there." The sound of the flames as they started consuming my apartment was loud, so that, combined with the adrenaline, meant we were yelling to each other to make sure we were heard.

I was vaguely aware of him calling back some sort of explanation of how he'd get out at me, but I couldn't concentrate on that and the task before me at the same time. Slowly, I stepped forward, crossing my fingers for luck as I did so. When I would have stepped onto fire, I felt warmth all around me, so I opened my eyes and saw that my energy shield was fully encompassing me. A lot of people probably would have been reluctant to just stand there with a wall of energy approaching, but Steve didn't even flinch as I reached him.

Instinctively, I stuck my hands out and saw a new shield surround Steve. Once he was protected, I walked all the way to him and allowed him to swing me up into his arms as our two shields merged. I wanted to point out that I could walk, but I figured that he could move faster than me as it appeared he had managed to get his boots on, and it probably comforted him to know he was helping me. I watched over his shoulder in horror as my bedroom window shattered, this time instantly followed by a second firebomb.

"Steph, focus," Steve whispered urgently.

I did and realized the shield around us was wavering, so I brought my attention fully back to the room we were in again. Nodding with satisfaction, Steve walked forward, not even turning to look when I flung my arms up with a gasp as another firebomb flew at us. It would have hit Steve in the back if I hadn't stopped it with my energy.

"Steve, hurry!" I yelled when I felt something worse coming. I dropped the firebomb behind him in time to slow down the fucking rocket so that we made it to the door. Steve set me down, and I stood protectively at his back while he flipped all the locks and pulled the door open. As we stumbled through, I dropped my shields so no one would see them.

Alright, whoever was attacking had probably seen them from across the way, but probably they wouldn't share that information with the public at large. If I could keep that level of anonymity, I wanted to. The Burg talked about me enough even without the freaky super powers. If the Burg gossips found out about my transformation, I would never hear the end of it.

I'd have to get a new phone number and move away… maybe to Upstate New York. Before I could get too tangled up in that daydream, I shook my head and brought myself back to the situation at hand.

Dillon was running up the staircase at the end of the hall holding his fire extinguishers, so I screamed at him, "no time, run!"

Steve picked me up once more and ran for the stairs, but instead of following Dillon down, he ran up. When we reached the roof, he took us to the corner opposite my apartment, and we hunkered down with his shield between us and the direction from which things had to have been fired earlier.

It had all happened so quickly that I was worried not all of my neighbors would have made it out in time. At least the apartment above mine was vacant because the tenants had gotten sick of dealing with the aftermath of my various fires and bombings.

Even knowing we were waiting for the jet to evacuate is, I couldn't help feeling a bit stressed out about the fact that we weren't doing anything, especially as I watched in horror as the fire made it up to the roof. We were sitting ducks, and if that fire got to us, we'd be roasted ducks.

Steve and I watched in silence as the flames burned closer and closer, all the while listening for the jet. Finally, realizing the team wasn't going to get to us before we needed to move, Steve shifted to be kneeling in front of me so I was facing his back.

"Steph, I need you to climb up, hold on tight, and trust me."

Nodding my head nervously, I grabbed onto him piggyback style. He used his left hand to help support me as he looked over the side of the building. I looked over his shoulder and saw that this side of the building appeared to be, thankfully, abandoned. Steve took his shield and dropped it to the ground below then slowly lowered himself to a squat with me hanging over the ledge.

The support he was giving with his left hand drifted away after a reassuring pat and I tightened my grip a little. Neither of us spoke as Steve started methodically scaling the side of the building. Thankfully the brick was real, not a façade. It was also old, so there were lots of cracks and missing chunks that Steve could use for footholds and handholds.

We'd made it past the third floor and onto the second when I heard the sound of the jet circling. It never un-cloaked that I saw, but moments later, Bucky was standing under us, holding Steve's discarded shield. He didn't call out, but I could tell he by the way he was shifting with us anytime Steve moved sideways that he was spotting us. Well, probably mostly me in case I lost my grip.

Around the time I estimated that we were between the first and second floor, you could hear even more sirens in the distance.

"You need to hurry up, Punk, if we want to get out of here unnoticed," Bucky urged from below.

Steve looked down, gauged the distance to the ground, and then let go with his left hand to support me again. I figured I knew what was coming and said a little prayer as I tightened my grip. Using both feet and his right arm, Steve pushed off the wall and caught us in an easy landing.

"Ten points for sticking the landing," I murmured.

Steve chuckled in agreement as his right hand came up, keeping me in the same position on his back as he ran over to the jet, Bucky by his side.

The jet appeared as nothing more than an open ramp leading to nothingness, the body remaining invisible and shielding us from being seen from the street. Immediately after we were completely inside it, the door was shutting once again. Steve took me over to a seat, and strapped me in while we took off. I felt the shift to supersonic moments later, and looked up to see the entire team scattered around, watching us.

I became extremely aware of the fact that I didn't have pants on, just a shirt and panties, but I tried to sound unaffected as I said, "can someone please call Ranger?"

Apparently FRIDAY decided to handle my request via speakerphone because a moment later I heard, "Babe?"

"We are in the jet, well outside of Trenton by now," I said right away.

"Are you okay?"

I paused long enough that Steve turned from where he was facing the team and shielding my modesty. He caught sight of my legs and frowned even though I was reassuring Ranger, "we're fine, nothing a Band-Aid can't solve."

"You were shot again?!"

Steve started running his hands frantically over me and Sam rose to his feet. I tried to smack Steve's hands away as I said, "no! Just some scratches here and there. Nothing too bad, I promise! No miracle Dr. Cho machine required, just Band-Aids. Maybe some Neosporin. Unlike you, I don't think Band-Aids are suitable treatment for gunshot wounds; that is definitely not what I meant."

I could hear sirens on Ranger's end and he said, "okay, I'm telling them you weren't here when it happened."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and said, "Ranger, my wallet, phone… everything is in there. Steve's too. They're going to find it when they investigate."

"Babe. I don't think there's going to be any remnants from your apartment to investigate," Ranger said, and I could hear the pity in his tone.

"Oh, that's good then," I said, shock starting to set in at the news. "You'll need to make sure Dillon doesn't say anything though, he saw us."

"Ranger," Steve said. "Even if they find something of mine, the ID is a cover and the phone I'm sure Natasha has wiped by now. I'm clean, so just say Steph had a date and left her purse behind, okay?"

"I hear you Cap," Ranger said.

Then he hung up.

I could feel my eyes widen and I couldn't stop myself from saying, "Holy shit! Batman just hung up on Captain Fucking America!"

There was a beat of silence before the jet broke out in laughter. We were still laughing when the jet ramp opened again. Dr. Cho, Coulson, Skye, and Lincoln were all standing there waiting. Dr. Cho smiled minutely but kindly, Lincoln and Skye looked dumbfounded to discover us laughing, and Coulson just looked like Coulson almost always did. He had his arms crossed, suit perfectly pressed, and his face fixed in a mild expression as though someone had just informed him what day of the week it was.

"What's the joke?" Skye asked.

Much to my surprise, Pietro buzzed forward and said, "you had to be there, do not worry about it." He turned back and winked at me, and it was a friendly gesture. He knew I was embarrassed to have said it out loud, and he was announcing that he would keep it to himself. The implication was that the team would as well.

With Steve's help I undid my seatbelt and stood. As soon as I put my weight on my feet though, I cried out in pain, my legs buckling. Steve caught me before I hit the ground and swept me up into his arms bridal style.

"I think I stepped on some glass," I grumbled.

Sam looked over and let out a low whistle, "I'll say you did! You really did a number on your feet there, Fireball!"

"I thought it was just the scrapes on your legs?" Steve asked genially.

"Oh, fuck, so did I," I moaned. "Now I'm wondering how I ever didn't feel this!"

"You and me both," Skye added with a sympathetic wince when she caught a glimpse of my feet.

Focusing on the young woman, I decided to try to distract myself by looking at her and Lincoln and saying, "I walked through fire today to get to Steve. Actual fire! Then I walked us _both_ back out of it! And there's not a single burn on either of us!"

 _ **Steve's POV**_

Steph had raised hell when I tried to take her to medical, insisting that it was just scratches she could take care of herself. When Rhodey, very reasonably, pointed out that some would be difficult to reach, she'd insisted that I could clean them.

When I'd mentioned that she had glass deeply embedded in her feet still, I got a terse, "don't you know how to use fucking tweezers?!"

With a weary sigh, I'd taken her to my room first, agreeing to fix as much of it as I felt comfortable doing before bringing her to the lounge where she would be seen by Dr. Cho.

My part had gone moderately well. I'd soaked her in the tub for a few moments while cleaning myself up. Once I'd climbed out of my shower, I'd taken a few minutes to wash her hair for her. It was an intimate moment, and one that sent me back to the way our evening had started. The reprieve was one we both clung to for as long as we dared, and used to reassure ourselves that we were okay.

Once we could delay no longer, I pulled her up out of the bath and carried her to my bed. Despite her attempts to turn it into something else, I was able to relatively quickly disinfect her legs and use what felt like an obscene number of Band-Aids, butterfly bandages, and gauze squares, but eventually her leg wounds were taken care of.

Steph started trying to seduce me again while I was trying to get some sweatpants on her, and I laid my head on her belly for a moment feeling weary and a tad frustrated. "Steph, can you please just let me get you dressed and allow Dr. Cho to look at your feet? Then we'll get some rest, and I promise if you're good, I will reward you in the morning with the 'bed sex' you keep asking for. That's assuming you feel up to it."

I used air quotes because she's been using that phrase so specifically, how could I not? Apparently realizing she'd pushed a little too hard, Steph ran her fingers through my hair for several seconds while murmuring apologies and thanks before finally capitulating.

Of course, with as much of a fuss as she'd put up before she'd allowed my simple treatment, I shouldn't have expected the next part to go smoothly.

"I need to put some stitches in," Dr. Cho said for the third time.

The first two times she'd been told this, Steph just said, "no" in response. This time, Steph turned to me and started bargaining.

"If I just sign onto the team right this second, then I'm not a civilian, so I can skip this fussing, right?" she implored.

Crossing my arms across my chest I said, "that's not really how this works."

"What if I offer you," she looked coyly around before finishing with, "favors?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose in between two fingers and let out a pained sigh as I said, "still not how this works. When you're hurt, you see the doctor. That's the rule for teammates as well as civilians who have offered the team assistance and were injured, not for the first time I might add, in the process of providing it."

"Steph, you need stitches," Dr. Cho coaxed for the fourth time, obviously trying to give me a break. "And I need better light to make sure I have all the glass out, as well as my sterile tools, so we need to take this over to the team medical suite."

"I really don't think I do," Steph argued. "Plus. If I let you give me stitches in the bottom of my feet, you won't let me walk."

"If you don't let me give you stitches and insist on walking, you'll keep opening those cuts up. That will slow down your recovery significantly. Not to mention the risk of infection. If you don't allow me to verify the glass is out, and some gets left in there, it could take weeks or even months to work itself back out. Different pieces doing that at different times will put you on the disabled list for at least a couple days possibly multiple times!"

The simple mention of infection stole my breath, and I sank down into a chair. Bucky crossed over to sit in the chair next to me. He spoke softly as he reassured me, "it's not the same as it was back then. Even if she doesn't _see the light and listen to the doc to avoid the infection_ , they'd stand a very, very good chance of being able to easily cure it in the hospital."

He raised his voice for the middle part, and Steph noticeably paused at his words. "I don't like hospitals," she pondered. I thought she'd seen reason until the moment she shook her head and stubbornly demanded, "I want a second opinion."

I gave Dr. Cho an apologetic smile, but she smiled more than anything else. To be fair, I was all over the place emotionally from the adrenaline, but in the logical part of my brain, I knew Steph wasn't being any where near as bad as most of us were when we were required to go to medical. In fact I was fairly certain Dr. Cho's smirk was because she thought I deserved this, as did the rest of the team. A taste of our own medicine.

Hell, Natasha had, on multiple occasions, hidden gunshots from the team and holed up in her room for days before she'd allowed anyone in to work on them. Thankfully that behavior had dwindled first as she began to trust the new team and then again with the addition of her relationship with Bucky to her life.

Lincoln had been watching from the beginning, but he still made a show of carefully re-examining Steph's feet.

"You need stitches," he concluded with a nod.

"Can't you just do the thing you did the other day?"

"You want me to use acupuncture to heal glass-filled cuts on the bottom of your feet?" he asked incredulously.

"Exactly!" Steph eagerly responded.

"That's not exactly how that worked, that was more about the rhythm of the body as a whole and aiding your chi, or life energy, to flow through you optimally."

"We could try," Steph tried. "You never know, maybe that life energy is something that I can manipulate and if you start doing your mumbo jumbo I'll unconsciously channel it to heal myself."

Lincoln paused and clearly thought about that for a few minutes before shaking his head. "Even if that's something you eventually figure out how to do, it'll take years. If you want, once you're healed, I know someone who might be willing to help you. But you're certainly not going to figure that out overnight. In the meantime, I've studied holistic medicine and I've been to med school, and I'm telling you that you need stitches. Dr. Cho is also telling you that you need stitches. If you just go get the stitches, we'll let you hold off on debrief until after you've gotten some sleep."

Technically that wasn't Lincoln's call. Of his own team, I was pretty sure he was third in line out of three to make that type of decision, and it was my team's mission anyway. Still, I looked around the room and didn't see any objections, so I nodded in agreement when Steph cast a glance sideways at me.

Steph let out a sigh and said, "Bucky, can I borrow a knife really quickly first?"

Bucky eyed her warily and didn't move to accommodate her as he asked suspiciously, "why?"

Unfortunately, Natasha was still hell bent on getting onto Steph's good side as she stepped forward and quickly handed Steph a knife. I watched in disbelief as Steph took the knife in her right hand and used it to cut her left. Then she absently handed it back to Natasha as she stared at her hand.

Natasha wiped the blade off on her pants, and I mentally cringed while I watched Steph carefully. When she'd asked for the knife, I'd thought there was a slight chance that was what she was going to do. Still, while I'd hoped I was wrong, I'd known that she wasn't going to mortally wound herself. Furthermore, I had told her to use her instincts with her powers, so I didn't move to stop her. A look at Natasha got me a smile that told me Natasha was proud of me for not interfering.

I watched as blue glow that was quickly becoming familiar encompassed Steph's newly injured hand. No one spoke for ten minutes, just watched Steph do her thing and the occasional drops of blood hit my sweatpants she was wearing. I made a mental note to make sure she changed and those made it into the wash as well. Blood wasn't uncommon on our clothes, and the cleaning staff knew to treat them all as hazardous materials anyway when they gathered them for laundering.

Finally Steph sighed and said, "I really think I can do it, but it looks like it won't be tonight."

Then she pouted a little and looked at Dr. Cho who calmly said, "now your hand needs stitches too."

Steph rolled her eyes and said, "fine, but if you're coming at me with needles, I want a cookie."


	18. Relying on Others

**Chapter 18 - Relying on Others**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

"So let me get this straight," I said to Lincoln while I waited for the numbing agent Dr. Cho had injected into my right foot to kick in. "My body underwent thousands of years of evolution and I'm no better at healing myself?"

"Yes and no," he replied. "You'll rarely get sick now, and your body will be very good at healing injuries in vital areas. Basically all the modifications the Kree made were put toward making warriors, so powers tend to help in combat situations, as you've witnessed. And non-power related improvements are geared toward survival and combat as well. Your feet are important, so they'll heal somewhat more quickly than usual, but not as quickly as something like a gut wound will."

"Dead soldiers aren't useful," Skye reasoned.

"Right," I said nervously before nodding to Dr. Cho that she could start working. "But I can still die, right?"

"Absolutely," Skye confirmed with a tinge of sadness in her voice.

We sat mostly in contemplative silence after that for several minutes. Eventually, Clint broke in eagerly saying, "so, what was that earlier about joining the team?"

I watched Dr. Cho as she worked, numbing my other foot then starting to pull out pieces of glass from the first. I didn't really like blood, but it was better than looking at anyone as I said, "I'm thinking about it."

I heard Clint rub his hands together and when I looked at him, he winked at me before saying, "goodie!"

"Did you just say 'goodie'?" Natasha asked incredulously.

"What's wrong with that?" Clint asked.

"You sound like a child," Natasha answered.

Clint looked pointedly at Bucky before retorting, "it wasn't too long ago that you said love was for children, so maybe a little bit of youthfulness in mentality is a good thing after all."

It was delivered in a manner that sounded a lot like providing a harsh truth to a non-believer, and I had to hand it to Clint, I would have been afraid to speak to Natasha in such a manner. Probably because they had been partners, and I assumed friends, for so many years, Natasha simply accepted the point with a gracious tilt of her head.

"What about us? Are you still considering Skye's team as an option?" Coulson questioned steadily.

I turned to look at him so he could see the regret in my eyes when I said, "I appreciate the offer, and I'd consider helping if you had a specific need for me on a case by case basis with some stipulations. But, ultimately, no. It'll be either bounty hunting or this crazy bunch for me, I'm thinking."

Coulson nodded his head and said, "I understand and appreciate your honesty. If it's alright with you, let's get together over the next few days and talk about those requirements you have. We'll set up a base contract and then a template for adding in missions as needed to make the paperwork go relatively quickly each time."

"You'll still stay and help me?" I asked because even though Steve had said they would, I had still been hesitant to believe it.

"Of course we will!" Skye said enthusiastically.

Coulson held my gaze as he amended Skye's statement, "Skye and Lincoln at least will stay as long as they can. As far as I'm concerned though, I may have to come and go. The Inhumans team is just a piece of the puzzle for me. It's an important piece, but I have lots of moving parts. And it goes without saying that if we get word of any more fish oil survivors or victims..."

I nodded my head in understanding and murmured, "of course." After another, surprisingly comfortable, silence, I said, "I can't believe my apartment is gone. This isn't the first time it's been burned, but it's usually been contained to one room or area. I don't think anything will be salvageable this time."

I heard Steve move and then he sat down next to me on the exam table, careful to stay out of the doctor's way as he put an arm around my waist. Because I was still feeling the need to be as physically connected to Steve as possible now. I took the opportunity to rest my head on his shoulder.

"I wonder what was in those firebombs because they were bigger than any that have been used against me before, and they seemed to be more aggressively combustible," I mused.

"Ranger will have a preliminary report for us from the arson investigator by morning," Steve said. Then he looked over at the clock and corrected himself, "by the time you wake up again this afternoon."

I nodded my head wearily against him and then said, "you all don't have to stay up for this."

Coulson, Skye, and Lincoln slowly made their goodbyes, but everyone else stayed around to make small talk and help keep me distracted while Dr. Cho worked. When she finally appeared to be done placing the last piece of tape over my hand, which hadn't required stitches after all, I slid forward to gingerly stand.

"Hold up there," Sam said. "Exactly what do you think you're doing?"

"Getting up, carefully and slowly, so that I can go to bed," I said.

Natasha snorted out a laugh, and I whined when I saw the wheelchair that Bucky brought over. "I am not getting in that thing," I said clearly, leaving little room for argument.

Steve stood and gently picked me up saying, "that's just going in my room in case you need to get somewhere and no one is there to help you. You have plenty of people who can help you get around, all you have to do is ask FRIDAY if nobody is there with you. I think all the men here are capable of carrying you."

"I can float you," Wanda said mischievously.

"I could lift you," Natasha said eyeing me resolutely, "but it wouldn't be comfortable for either of us. We'd best leave that for an emergency situation."

"I will move you the fastest," Pietro boasted.

"Yeah, I'd really rather not," I said.

"Why not?" Vision asked tilting his head to the side in the way that told me he was trying to figure out something about humans that he found incredibly puzzling. "I can fly you where you want to go, and you told me you'd always wanted to fly."

"Because if you all lift me, you'll know how much I weigh," I flushed.

"132," Natasha, Clint, and Bucky all said in unison.

When I gaped at all of them, Clint shrugged and said, "give or take a couple pounds. It's what we do, Steph."

Steve apparently decided it was best not to get into that, as he just started walking toward the Avenger's quarters, which were very nearby the meeting and medical rooms but still separate enough that they weren't entirely living where they worked. From what I'd observed so far, it seemed that they were pretty good about not talking business too much inside of the living spaces.

FRIDAY opened the doors in front of us, and Steve stopped to let Bucky pass in front of us. He quickly stowed the wheelchair in Steve's room while Steve set me on a bar stool in the small eating area. I watched as he pulled out a box of granola bars, digging around in it then handing me a bar. With a smile, I noted that it had chocolate and peanut butter chips in it, but I wasn't particularly hungry. Before I could comment on that fact, a blue blur whirred past me and set a small bottle of pills on the counter in front of me. Nodding my head, I quickly ate the granola bar then took a bottle of water from Steve.

Steve picked up the bottle of pills because I couldn't open them with one hand bandaged and read the side of it before doling out one pill and passing it off to me. I took the pill sullenly and Steve picked me up and carried me back to his bedroom.

Once inside, I got tired, and I was pretty sure it was too soon for it to be the pills.

"You're mad at me," I said on a sigh.

Steve looked up at me in alarm from where he was pulling off his shoes, "no I'm not! Why would you think I'm angry?"

"Let's see, I raised hell over getting stitches, oh, yeah, and I cut my hand open with Natasha's knife. Which was honestly sharper than I thought so that cut was more severe than I'd planned."

Steve winced at that before starting to pull off the sweatpants he'd helped me dress in earlier. "I got a little bit frustrated that you were fussing about treatment," he agreed. "But only because I hate seeing you hurt, and you were going to make it worse if you didn't let Dr. Cho treat you. That would mean seeing you hurt for longer. I am NOT upset in the least about your hand."

"Really?" I asked propping myself up a little and watching as Steve tossed the sweats into his laundry basket. When he held up another pair of sweatpants and a pair of gym shorts, I pointed to the shorts. First of all, his pants were too long for me, and they looked ridiculous. Second, sleeping with Steve, while fabulous, was like sleeping next to a furnace. Set to high.

Steve nodded and pulled the shorts up my body, following until he was straddling me while he tied them for me. Then, making sure he didn't press along the injured outsides of my legs, he leaned himself down to give me a kiss. "If you thought you could heal it, then it was worth a try. And a cut on the hand is annoying, but not lethal. We'll find out the name of the guy Lincoln recommended, run some background checks on him, and if he checks out, we'll see if he can work with you, okay?"

"Sure," I said. All the while I was mentally going through my finances.

I'd been doing okay until this whole thing started and then, well, most of the skips I'd brought in the past week in Trenton had been very low bond. When I'd disappeared, Vinnie had brought in another part-time bounty hunter and gave them the more expensive of my usual files. Once I'd given Lula a cut for her help, I hadn't made much in the course of those five days.

And I hadn't made ANYTHING the week before while I'd been at the Avengers facility. Not to mention I was going to have to buy new… everything. Needless to say, things were going to be tight. I could feel the pain killers pulling me down into sleep, and decided I'd have to look into my finances in the morning to figure out how I was going to pay someone to teach me to harness my chi.

How was it my life suddenly that I thought things like "harness my chi" and was being completely serious rather than making fun of some yoga type?

When I woke up for the first time the next morning, my spidey sense was going off. But instead of danger, what I felt was alarmingly close to love directed strongly at me.

Not that having someone love you was a bad thing. On the contrary, it was a wonderful thing. It was just too soon for Steve to feel that way about me. Plus there was the whole reciprocity thing. I didn't love Steve, yet. Did I?

Oh rats. I was in love with Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. Maybe. Probably. How in the world had I allowed that to happen so quickly?

Of course, given the emotion and intent I was feeling coming off of Steve, maybe I wasn't the only one who was falling quickly. And how insane was that to think of? Well, actually, it was no more insane than thinking about fish oil making someone get superpowers. And it appeared that was true, so maybe I just need to embrace the insanity that was my life these days. Eventually it had to calm down, and I would be able see where everything settled.

I must've tensed up while I was contemplating my life because Steve clearly realized that I was awake. He bent down and kissed me on the top of my head while running a hand down my back. Quietly he whispered, "sorry I didn't mean to wake you I'm just going to go for my morning run."

I rolled onto my back and looped my arms around his neck, pulling him down for a real kiss. When I allowed him to pull back a little, I said, "hey, I seem to be remembered a certain someone promising me-"

I was cut off abruptly by Steve's mouth pressing urgently into mine, and I couldn't help the smile that I felt curve my lips. In response, I could feel a matching smile break out on Steve's face while he rolled us over so that I was on top of him.

When I shifted my legs to be on the outside of his and tilted my pelvis down, I could feel Steve pressed up against my core. "You were going to run with that?" I asked incredulously.

"I was going to wait for it to go away first," Steve admitted. "I didn't want to wake you up; I know you didn't sleep well last week and last night's sleep was thoroughly interrupted."

"Are you going to make me get up when we're done?"

"No."

"Then let's take care of this first," I murmured all the while rocking my pelvis so that my clit was getting a gentle, stroking pressure along his erection, causing both of us to groan.

Steve grabbed my hips to slow but not stop my movements then said, "we'll need to be careful to make sure we don't hurt your legs or feet."

We spent the next several minutes kissing and stripping each other of our remaining clothes. Well, Steve was only wearing boxers, so that part really didn't take me very long. My part done for the time being, I teased him while he tried to focus on removing my clothes. Eventually he got frustrated and flipped us back over, remarkably gently.

When he rolled me from my laying on my back to laying on my stomach, I had a moment's hesitation before relaxing into the bed. My reward was Steve digging his hands into my muscles and relieving tension I hadn't even realized I was carrying with me.

Once he deemed me suitably relaxed, Steve rolled me back over and kissed me. Then he slid down my body to fasten his mouth on my left breast. While his mouth played with my nipple, one hand slid to my right breast and the other moved between my legs.

I briefly wondered where all those Virgin Captain America jokes came from because Steve Rogers? He knew where everything was and how to operate it. It only took a minute before I was begging him.

"Steve, come on, please?"

"What do you want, Sweetheart?" he asked, smile on his face telling me he knew exactly what I wanted.

"I need you," I paused trying to catch my breath. "In me, please."

"Are you going to be careful?" Steve asked, and when I nodded frantically he added on. "Not just right now, but until you're feeling better and the stitches are all out. You're going to let the team help you get around, and use the chair if you have to."

His fingers were moving slowly in and out of me, keeping me on the edge but not providing enough stimulation to push me over. It was the damn master strategist thing all over again!

"Yes, Steve, I promise to be careful. Just please," I drew in a deep breath and met Steve's eyes so he could see how much I wanted him. "Make love to me."

I don't know what he had expected me to say, but I don't think it was to use that terminology for it. As soon as he heard the "L" word, he started moving quickly toward our mutual pleasure. Shifting down the bed a little, he knelt back so he was sitting on his lower legs. Then he carefully slid me forward, lifting my hips so he could slide into me.

My head, shoulders, and upper back were on the bed, but Steve's hold had the rest of me suspended in the air. He started moving slightly, then said, "Steph, put your ankles on my shoulders, plea-"

He cut off with a groan when I complied, unable to hold in a whimper in response to the sensation as I did. Everything was much tighter with my legs up, and it felt wonderful. When he switched from thrusts in and out to a rocking motion, it was like a massage for my G-spot.

"That's it," he coaxed in that deep voice of his. "Come on, Steph. Go up and over for me, it feels so good when you do."

"So good," I echoed, and wanting a little stimulation on the outside to go with the magic Steve was working on me, I slid my hand down to rub myself.

"God, Steph," Steve gasped out. "That's gorgeous, keep doing that.

My eyes had gone out of focus as I'd been concentration on the sensations going on in my body, but when I looked at Steve and saw him biting his lip in an effort to hold himself back, it was enough to throw me over the edge and take Steve with me. The orgasm was so intense that I wasn't at all surprised to hear the sound of shattering glass to match it. Steve, however, just looked over to where the sound had come from, then turned back to me with a grin and kept rocking his hips.

He shifted back to the slow, teasing pace he'd used in the beginning so as to not overwhelm me. And the guy didn't tire, just kept at it until I found myself writhing around and begging him to move faster once again. Doing just the opposite, he paused for a moment and re-inspected my legs and feet. Gently he pulled my legs down from his shoulders and told me to sit up.

When I did, he moved us carefully, staying inside of me the whole time, to the edge of the bed. Then he stood, walked to an open space where I wouldn't kick anything, and used his strength to hold me in the air while beginning to thrust once more.

I was going to have to think later about whether or not it was okay that I found his strength so appealing. But either way, the fact that he was able to maneuver me so easily and didn't appear to even be breathing hard while doing so was a huge turn on.

Apparently I said that out loud, because Steve's smile turned into a dirty grin as he tilted me back to an angle that defied gravity at the same time as he picked up the pace. Before long I was tumbling into another hard, satisfying orgasm.

With a little bit of glee, I noticed that Steve did have to stagger forward to lean against the wall with one shoulder while still holding me after he came the second time. I cracked an eye open and turned my head to look at him. When his gaze met mine, I grinned and summoned enough energy to reach a hand up to stroke his face.

"You love me. I can feel it, right in here and here," I said tapping my head and my gut.

"What about here?" Steve asked, carefully shifting to free up a hand so he could put a hand over my still pounding heart.

"The first two are my spidey sense, and it's weird, but that's what woke me up. I could feel the love you were feeling directed at me. Or maybe into me? Semantics. Anyway, I started to let it freak me out a little; I started to overthink it and tell myself it's too soon." I shrugged then put my hand over his on my chest. "I feel it here too though, and that's how I know I love you too. So I don't care if it's fast, and I'm not going to freak out or be afraid to say it because it _is_ _real_."

I tilted my head more to kiss Steve thoroughly and sweetly. When he pulled back, he pressed another kiss over my ear and whispered, "I _do_ love you."

"I know," I whispered back. "You should know that I also love sleep, and I don't think I've had enough of it."

Steve chuckled at that, but took the cue gracefully. A few minutes later I'd visited the bathroom, cleaned up, and was sprawled all over the bed.

Steve was getting dressed, and I knew he was going to be headed for some sort of workout. Already half asleep, I murmured, "just gonna get a quick nap."

"Take as much time as you need, Steph. I'll be here." Steve said.

As I drifted off completely to sleep, I thought I felt his lips brush against mine and heard him whisper that he loved me.

 _ **Pietro's POV**_

Much like the Captain, I didn't require that much sleep. I had actually gone to sleep early the night before, so I'd gotten enough sleep before we had to assemble that I didn't need to go back to sleep once everyone else did.

I took the opportunity to go for a run. Although I was growing accustomed to this new team of ours, there were times where I missed the quiet that had often surrounded us when it was just Wanda and I. Well, as much quiet as there could be with Wanda around because even if she wasn't actually talking, she'd often be in my mind.

Her presence was a comfort though. Even when I ran miles away in the dark while she slept, she was there. A quiet, glowing red light, curled up not unlike a cat. I could wake her if I needed or wanted to easily; though, just like a sleeping feline, doing so would be sure to garner me a healthy dose of short-lived contempt.

When I got back to the facility, I knew that the time had helped. I made my way to the gym, once again eager to interact with my team and hoping it wouldn't be too much longer before some of them showed up. Unfortunately, it seemed everyone else was catching up on missed sleep, or something else I didn't want to think of that it had been much too long since I'd been able to indulge in with anyone other than myself.

I made it back to the Avengers quarters in time to grab a quick bite of cereal with Steve. Bucky stumbled out a few minutes later and we made vague plans for a full team meal later if we could swing it. Although they invited me back to spar, a look at the Captain told me he might rather some time to talk to Bucky alone, so I declined.

Quickly, because most everything I did was quick, I cleaned up from my workout then found a book and relaxed in the common area. Most of the others filtered in and to the gym, so I was alone when Friday spoke, "Mr. Maximoff, I believe Ms. Plum could use some of your assistance if you are available?"

"Me?" I asked, surprised.

"You are closest, so I notified you first. If you're unable to help, however-"

I cut off FRIDAY (who was speaking in a surprisingly harsh tone obviously having assumed I didn't _want_ to assist Steph), "no, I'd be happy to help. Can I just go in? Is she... dressed?"

"Ms. Plum is fully clothed and prepared for the day. Furthermore, Mr. Rogers has given you full access to his rooms, so I calculate it would be fully appropriate for you to enter."

Taking FRIDAY at her word, I opened the door and walked into the suite of rooms. My gaze landed on Steph who was sitting in the wheelchair while also managing to pout and glare at it at the same time.

"I thought you did not want to use the chair," I said. "I do not blame you. I was confined to one during my recovery weeks ago, and it is not for people like us."

"Like us?" Steph perked up a little as she asked for clarification.

I walked forward and reached to pick her up, pausing to give her ample opportunity to object. Once I had her in my arms, I smiled at her in a friendly manner and said, "people with energy and fire in them!"

Before she could respond, I sped off, not as fast as I could at first, but close. Steph giggled, so I did a loop around the building before stopping in an empty corridor.

"Alright, my second sister," I started. When Steph appeared surprised, I shrugged. "No one before has welcomed Wanda the way you have. And I don't just mean giving her access to your mind, but that is a, how you say, huge deal. You accept her, and you accept me. So, you are family."

"Wow, thanks," Steph replied. "Can I ask you something?"

The question was asked so quietly and almost apologetically that I had a feeling I knew where the conversation was going. Wanda and I had been waiting for the topic to come up, and we'd agreed that whoever she asked would answer Steph's questions with complete honesty. Remembering that promise to Wanda, I nodded my head allowing my eyes to show that she could ask me anything.

"How did you _get_ fast in the first place?" She asked.

I sighed because that was exactly the question I expected. I took a breath as I walked her over to the bench in the hallway and set her gently on it. I walked across the hall and put my back to the wall as I faced her.

"Wanda and I were born in Sokovia, a land that is war torn, and not just from the Battle of Sokovia with Ultron. It has always been that way. From the time we were babies. When we were young, our mother and father were killed when our apartment building was shelled."

"Oh, Pietro, I'm sorry," Steph murmured, eyes filled with compassion.

Nodding my head I continued, "We wrongly placed the blame on Tony Stark in particular, and allowed ourselves to hate the Avengers by association. HYDRA came to Sokovia and they convinced us that we couldn't trust our own government to keep us safe, that we needed to protect ourselves. Wanda and I signed up to let them experiment on us after they promised us the power to succeed in our mission for revenge."

If I didn't already think of her like a sister, Steph would have solidified that place in my heart by the utter acceptance I saw on her face. She asked, "did they tell you beforehand what your powers would be? Did you know?"

"No. I think they did not know, but I also do not think they _would_ have told us beforehand even if they did know."

I had thought that she would ask out of fear of Wanda and I, or maybe concern about our loyalty. But I suddenly realized she was looking for someone on the team she could connect to. She wanted someone who had gone through a similar process to her, and while I was willing to be that person, as was Wanda, she needed to understand that about someone else as well.

"You know, I'm fairly certain that the Captain was nice to us from the beginning, well, as nice as he could be considering we were helping a robot to try to kill his team, because he understood. He kept trying to tell Wanda and I that we could walk away, that we didn't have to fight. And when we switched sides, he accepted us right away. It was because he understood the need to join up and fight perceived injustice. But more than that, he understood what it was to want to help your people so badly that you were willing to let someone experiment on you who didn't know what the outcome would be.

"We learned about Captain America growing up. I think Americans sometimes think that they're the only ones who grow up knowing him, even pretending to be him, because he has your country's name in his. But we knew who he was, and how he came to be what he is now. He was lucky, the way some of those other experiments turned out… _anything_ could have happened to him. If you ever need to talk about what happened, about the uncertainty you feel now, about anything, I hope you know that Wanda and I are happy to be there for you. We understand. And so does Steve."

Steph sat quietly for a couple minutes as she mulled that over. I knew that it was a lot to take in, and I felt sure Steve had been supporting her emotionally as best he could. It was also clear, however, that Steph's confidence was low, and Wanda had told me that Steph worried about burdening all of us, especially Steve. Or coming across as needy. From the emotions I saw play across Steph's face, I felt hopeful that I had succeeded in beginning to help her understand that she was a burden to no one on the team.

Then I clapped my hands and kneeled in front of her so she could clamber onto my back. Once she was sturdily in place, I said, "now, we have some time before we should meet up with the others for a meal. Want to have some fun at their expense?"

Steph cackled with glee and clapped her hands calling out, "Hi-yo silver! Away!"


	19. Two Assassins

**Chapter 19 - Two Assassins**

 _ **Bucky's POV**_

Something was definitely off about Steve, and I couldn't put my finger on what. It wasn't something bad, it was just something different. While I sat and silently tried to put together the pieces over my breakfast, the punk was sitting there also quietly eating his. And it wasn't normal.

I would have thought it had to do with what had happened to Steph's apartment the night before, except I had no doubt that topic would cause him to be tense. He'd pace as he tried to figure out how to attack HYDRA with the information we'd already discovered. Preferably without requiring Steph to set foot inside of Trenton ever again. He wouldn't stop her from going if she wanted or needed to, especially because her family was there, but he'd rather she didn't. And like the rest of us, he was certain from the stories she'd told and what we'd witnessed

(in the videos during her arrest or when she'd been around one of the bugs she planted) that the city was toxic to her.

I could smell sex on him, but this mood he was in wasn't about that either. If he was just thinking about the sex, he would have him feeling either relaxed or keyed up. I knew Steve well enough to know he wasn't being weighed down by guilt over premarital sex. I supposed it was possible he'd have felt nervous or guilty about taking advantage. In fact, Steph had alluded to that before, so that made me believe that they'd had sex together for the first time before this morning. If they hadn't already had sex before Steph had gotten hurt and her apartment burned down, Steve would have qualified doing so this morning as morally unacceptable. It had to have happened in Trenton then.

So they had sex in Trenton, it was, presumably good because they were still together and had repeated it this morning. Then they'd, what? Fallen asleep, given the state of dress they'd both been in when they got on the Aven-Jet the night before.

So sex for the first time, postcoital cuddling, sleep, and then, suddenly attacked by, odds were, HYDRA. That would throw anyone off. But if that was what was bothering him, he'd again, be antsy. And this wasn't that. Frustrated, I followed Steve to the gym and we moved to the sparring ring by unspoken agreement.

For the first few minutes we moved lightly, taking the opportunity to limber up. Finally the real fighting started, and it allowed me to assess his mental state. Which was… much too lax. I sighed, knowing we were going to have to do that thing where we talked about our feelings. And, to add insult to injury, I was going to have to take it easy on him because he was way too distracted. He may be Captain America, but a well placed hit from my metal arm could still take him out for at _least_ a few hours.

"Alright, Punk, let's hear it," I grunted out after taking it easy left me open for him to land a punch on my ribs.

"What?" Steve asked. "Not my fault you got hit."

Frustrated, I threw and pinned him. "You're distracted. What's on your mind."

"Love," he said simply.

Obviously I hadn't figured out what I expected him to say, but it wasn't that. And my shock gave him the opportunity to throw me off of him and into the side of the ring. As I stood and shook myself loose, I saw a cocky smile on Steve's face and decided I was done playing nice. Apparently Steve wasn't ready to talk because he fought just as hard as I did without another word for another hour straight.

A crowd had gathered around to watch us spar, as often happened, and I realized that was probably why he didn't want to talk. Too many spies and busybodies around. Honestly, I think he would have won the day's fight because what he lacked in his usual concentration, he made up for with even more energy than usual. That is if it hadn't been for a sudden distraction in the form of a blue blur.

The blue blur wasn't unusual, but the giggle that could be heard emanating from it was. As it flew between us, I could feel Pietro's large hand and excessive strength shove me playfully, causing me to stumble. When I looked over at Steve, it was clear, however, that Steph had put her hands on him in a much more friendly manner.

I snickered knowingly and just said, "we done for the day?"

"For now," Steve said with a nod as he began walking toward the Avengers locker room- there were separate changing areas and showers for men and women, but there was a door that internally collected the two space. As soon as the door from the gym shut behind us, Steve swept the men's room even though he clearly would have seen anyone else enter and even went so far as to check all the air vents. Once he was satisfied that we were alone, he turned to me and asked, "when did you tell Tasha you love her?"

"Oh hell, why are you talking to me about this? You should be talking to Sam. Or maybe even Rhodey. Clint would listen well, and he's got a sister he's close to, so he's probably not that emotionally stunted. Though he hid her existence from everyone but Nat, so there's that. Probably don't call Tony, but hell, I bet Coulson would pee himself with excitement over getting to give you fatherly advice."

"Buck, come on! You're my best friend! With me till the end of the line, right? Don't tell me the end of the line is talking about feelings!" Steve pleaded.

"I just don't know why you'd talk to me about this."

"You and Tasha."

"Are two formerly brainwashed assassins who were programmed not to love or to reveal their emotions to anyone."

"Yeah, but you both broke your programming, and you're together now. So maybe it was a little delayed, but you have obviously told each…" he trailed off when he caught a look at my face. "No! You haven't told Natasha you love her?!"

"We don't need that," I argued. "We know."

And there it was, the Disappointed Captain America face that had spread like wildfire through the Internet the first time someone (Tony) had gotten a good picture of it and posted it to Instagram. "You gotta tell her, Jerk."

"Why? It isn't going to tell her anything she doesn't already know, and it makes me vulnerable." When Steve started to protest, I cut him off from that line of conversation with a curt hand gesture. The only thing I could think of to get Steve off of the topic of Nat and I was to bite the bullet and have the conversation I was originally trying to avoid. "Did you tell Steph or did Steph tell you?"

"Steph told _me_ that _I_ love _her_ ," he said and got the dopiest grin on his face that I couldn't stop myself from snapping a picture with my phone so quickly he didn't even notice. Then I stuck my hand in my pocket and texted the picture to everyone else without looking. "Then she told me she loves me."

"And you answered back?" When he nodded his head, I asked, "and do you love her?"

"Yes," Steve vehemently answered without hesitation.

Completely baffled, I asked, "then what's the problem?"

"Is it too soon?"

"How the hell would I know?"

"I don't know, but I mean, Steph seemed concerned about it. Said she wasn't going to say anything because it was too soon, but then she could feel that I loved her through her spidey sense. Because she knew it was real, she told me."

There was so much there I had to dissect it all. "She could feel it?"

"That's what she said."

"Huh, well that's a little more than what did Skye and Lincoln call it?"

"Danger intuition."

"Yeah," I said. "That's a whole different group of emotions; you'll have to mention that to them."

"Not the point, Bucky."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I shrugged, and when Steve made a frustrated noise, I said, "it's not like I have much modern dating experience, Steve! If you love her, and it doesn't freak her out to know that already, then I think you're fine. Weren't you the one who gave me very long lectures about grabbing what I wanted and holding it tight? Sounds like that's what you're doing. And who the hell is going to tell you that it's too soon anyway? Anyone tries, you tell them to go fuck themselves because it's none of their damn business."

"That was almost moving, Buck. Right up until the end there."

"You had to know what you were getting when you chose to have this conversation with me!"

Steve went back into his pensive state from earlier, and we both went through the motions of showering and getting dressed in clean clothes. I thought I was going to make it out of there without anything more, but when I pulled the door to leave, Steve slammed his palm on it stopping me.

I looked at him in surprise and he softly but firmly told me, "you gotta tell her. Doesn't matter if you know and you think she knows and all that. Actually saying it. It just feels… trust me, okay?"

I nodded my head curtly but stopped short of promising to do so. Yet when I got back to the living quarters a few strides ahead of Steve, and saw everyone gathered around chatting amicably, I made a snap decision. Not stopping, I grabbed onto Natasha's arm and pulled her with me back to my rooms. I was under no illusions that she wasn't letting me move her, so I was grateful that she didn't put up a fuss until we made it inside with the door closed behind us.

Immediately, Natasha slammed me up against the door, flicking a knife out and holding it to my throat, "manhandle me in front of the team again, Barnes," she said in a deadly tone. In that moment, I knew Steve was right what I felt for this woman was the real deal. I smiled widely and she tightened her grip on me and the knife asking, "what? Did Rogers give you a concussion?"

"I love you."

"What?"

"You heard me."

My smile turned into a smirk as she sputtered and said, "we don't say that."

"We haven't," I agreed. "In the past. I'm changing that, at least on my side. You should try it, it feels good. I love you Natasha. _Natalia_."

"Oh, you're that sure of yourself are you, Barnes?" She spat the words out, but she also closed the knife, so I figured I was good for the time being.

"Yes," I answered while I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as she paced across the room.

When she reached the end, she turned and faced me, assessingly. Face completely blank she said, "I love you too, _James_."

I waited half a beat, and she broke, smiling wide. Then she ran at me and I laughed while I caught her when she jumped on me. We kissed, and when I pulled back, I said, "see."

"You were right," she admitted. "It does feel good."

"Damn it," I sighed.

"You wanted to be wrong?"

"No, it's just. _Steve_ was the one who was right, the punk."

Natasha raised her brow, so I gave her the whole story. By the end, she was laughing as she said, "who would have guessed, two super soldiers talking about feelings like that after trying their best to beat the shit out of each other. You're soft."

"Hey, you take it back!" I pouted, then with a wicked grin, "you love me. We're going to have to come up with a new name for you, you're a disgrace to black widows everywhere."

"I could still kill you," Natasha said, fingering MY knife.

"Nah, you wouldn't do that, you love me." I boasted. Then, not really thinking about it, I asked, "why don't we live together?"

Natasha froze, and that was when I got worried. Until, that was, she relaxed again and with a shrug said, "it would be better defensively."

I snorted but decided I'd pushed my luck for shows of emotions for the next year, so I nodded my head solemnly. "Absolutely, that's what I was thinking. Safety in numbers."

 _ **Steve's POV**_

I followed Bucky into the common room, and watched him pull Natasha from the room. Everyone watched them go, and when I heard the click of Bucky's door, I let the smile I was holding in escape.

"Uh, Cap," Clint said nervously. "I don't know why you're smiling like that; you're about to lose your one and only fellow old-timer super soldier buddy!"

I laughed and confidently replied, "no I'm not." No one looked like they believed me, but I didn't say anything else. Instead, I walked over to where Steph was lounging on the couch and scooped her up. Then I moved over to one of the armchairs and sat in that, arranging Steph so she was reclined sideways across my lap instead. To Steph I whispered, "I'll tell you later."

"What if I was comfortable over there?" she asked loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Well, then you should have thought of that earlier. I just assumed from the way you got fresh in the gym that you were looking for attention."

Pietro snickered and Steph laughed. I wasn't expecting Sam to laugh too, and when I looked at him he said, "those two found all of us and knocked us down. I'm assuming Steph was a more active participant in your encounter?"

"I told Pietro that Steve was mine, and he wasn't allowed to touch," Steph replied with a shrug. "And he was looking the other way while he dealt with Bucky, and we were moving too fast for anyone else to see, so I made sure Steve knew it was me. That's all."

There was loud laughter all around at that and Rhodey gasped out, "what did she do to you?"

"I do not understand this custom," Vision said.

"It falls under the loose category of a prank," Clint said. "And you don't understand it because it isn't a very good one. No sophistication at all."

"No!" I commanded. "No more prank wars!"

"yeah, yeah, yeah," Clint said in a voice that had me a little nervous about his sincerity.

Wanting to distract from this topic, I said, "alright, let's go debrief on Steph's latest trip to Trenton. FRIDAY, please let Bucky and Natasha know when they're ready to join us. And would you please ask Mary to arrange for lunch in the tactical rooms for us?"

"Yes, Captain," she replied smoothly. "I have highlighted sections of video and audio from the surveillance gear Ms. Plum planted that seem to be of particular importance and will have those available for your review at your command."

"You can automate that?" Steph asked.

"We do both," I replied, standing with Steph in my arms. "FRIDAY and our trained agents usually pick up on slightly different things, and both are valuable."

As we walked into the room, I noticed that Skye, Lincoln, and a man I didn't recognize were waiting inside. I paused in the door, only to hear Natasha's voice behind me say, "I let them in, and FRIDAY has been monitoring. That's Daniel Rand, and I was already acquainted with him, but ran a check on him anyway."

"Lincoln's friend?" I asked.

"Don't know about friend, but based on prior experience alone, I'd say Lincoln is right. This guy can help Steph if she's going to be able to do what she thinks she will."

"Alright, change of plans," I said. "We'll start going over the videos FRIDAY has set aside to be reviewed while Steph works with Mr. Rand."

The man in question was sitting on the floor, legs crossed in front of him, so I carried Steph over. Carefully I set Steph down across from him, then reached my hand to shake his. "I'm Steve, and this is Steph. I assume Lincoln has already caught you up on the situation?"

"Yes," he spoke serenely, but I could tell this was someone powerful and capable of violence if needed.

"Does this space work for you?" I asked.

Daniel nodded his head and exchanged greetings with Steph. I waited until they were done and Steph looked at me, nodding and giving me an encouraging smile before I moved back over to the rest of the team.

As we began to work, I kept looking over at Steph and Daniel. They just seemed to be sitting there. Every once in awhile, I would hear a murmur, and after a bit, Daniel took Steph's hands in his. Eventually, I decided he wasn't going to try to harm Steph with us sitting right across the way, and I turned my attention fully back to what I was watching.

Finally I could smell something delicious, and looked over to the entryway to see carts being rolled in with food. I recognized the smell of meatball subs, and turned to call out something to Steph about how she had Mary wrapped around her finger already. When I looked, however, Daniel was sitting there much as I had left him, but Steph was nowhere to be seen!

I felt a moment of panic before I heard her voice as she came in the door behind the food and enthusiastically hugged Mary. Gone were her bandaged feet and the sweatpants she had been wearing. In place of the pants, she was wearing jean shorts that were quite short, and she was walking easily. I watched as she walked over to Daniel and said something happily to him. He responded before getting up, giving Steph a bow, and walking out.

"Where is he going?" I asked.

"Daniel's a busy man, he has to leave," Steph said. "FRIDAY told me she would see him out."

Once she reached my side, I examined Steph carefully. She'd removed the bandages on her legs, and her skin looked perfectly healed with only faint scars in a few places and a more severe scar in one stretch. She rolled her eyes, but let me help her into a seat. I picked up her feet, which were in sandals and removed the shoes so I could continue my inspection. Apparently, at some point, she or Daniel had removed the stitches, and those also appeared to be healed. Finally, I pulled her hand that had been cut into mine and moved it around to see it from different angles. All healed.

"You healed yourself?" I asked.

With a huff of annoyance, Steph said, "Lincoln's right; it's really hard." She twisted and fingered a six inch stretch of skin on the outside of her right knee that although it had been one of the least severe scrapes, had probably the relatively worst scarring remaining. "I healed this patch on my own. The rest was done with Daniel's guidance."

"That's incredible, Steph," I ran my fingers over the spot gently.

"Did you see the rest of it?" she snorted out. "You can't even see even the slightest trace of a scar in most of the places where he healed me."

"Still," I said. "Lincoln told you it could take years to learn."

"Daniel was pleased with my progress." Steph agreed. "He told me to call him when I've managed to get the scar to go away. Apparently that will mean I'm ready to learn more. But he did make sure that FRIDAY had his number, so if I get seriously injured again, and he's available, he'll come up and work with or on me, whichever is applicable."

We stood together and walked over to the food, filling up plates, and before she got into the work, Steph turned to Wanda. "If I was in a coma, would you be able to read my mind?"

"It depends on why you were in the coma, but for most injuries, yes," Wanda confirmed. "We may even be able to converse in one manner or another. Why do you ask? Is that a side-effect of the healing you just learned?"

"No, nothing like that," Steph reassured. "Do you know what a medical power of attorney is?"

"I don't think so," Wanda said warily.

"A person in the United States, and many other countries, may designate someone to have their medical power of attorney," Vision explained. "In the event that the first person is unable to make medical decisions for his or herself, the person designated makes them. The decisions needed are vast and can range from choosing a course of medical treatment to choosing to stop treatment and allowing the person to pass from this world."

"Well, this is morbid," Pietro said. "And that's coming from someone who died not too long ago."

Steph shrugged, "Ranger has my medical power of attorney right now, it made sense with me working with him and the number of hospitalizations I received, but I don't think that makes sense anymore. Wanda, if you're willing to do so, I think you're the obvious choice."

I bristled a little, but Sam shot me a warning look that told me to keep my mouth shut.

"Why?" Wanda asked.

"You just said you'd probably be able to talk to me even if I was unconscious, so it seems like you'd have the most information. If you can't make contact with me, I trust you to talk to whoever else you deem appropriate and make the correct decisions. Plus, Pietro told me that you two think of me as a sister, and it seems right to have family making those decisions."

Wanda cast a look my way and I inclined my head saying, "if that's what Steph wants, I think you would be a good choice."

"Okay," Wanda agreed shakily.

"Great!" Steph said with a big smile that belied the seriousness of the conversation. "I'll call up Ranger later and have his lawyers send the appropriate paperwork for making that change."

"And for the time being, you'd like us to call Daniel if you get injured," I figured.

"Yes, please." Steph replied, biting into her sandwich. "He says I'll learn faster that way, even if I'm unconscious."

I sighed pressing a kiss to her cheek while she ate, "I suppose it would be too much to ask for you to just not get hurt?"

"Probably."


	20. Categories

**Chapter 20 - Categories**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

As I ate my sandwich, I studied the information displayed on the walls and table around me. One section of wall was dedicated to the various law enforcement officers in Trenton. There were corresponding files for each person, but on the wall was the person's name and most recent photo. They were sorted into categories, "HYDRA," "suspicious," "need more info," and "friendly".

The friendly column was depressingly empty. Eddie Gazarra was there, as was Robin Russell, and I was relieved to see that. I'd believed Robin to be innocent, but I had a feeling there was thorough searching involved before anyone got moved into that category, and she'd passed it.

Natasha followed my line of sight, and stood to point at Robin's picture. "Did you know that when they arrested you, she was just coming off a double shift. But she refused to leave with you locked in there. Instead she stayed, off the clock, and insisted on being the one to take you on any breaks you required. I thought Dembrowski was going to hit her right there in the police station, her in uniform and him out of it."

Hearing his name, my eyes flicked over to the "HYDRA" category. People were listed two by two and Dembrowski and Dorsey were sitting at the top of the list because we'd confirmed them first. Taking the last few bites of my sandwich, I pushed my plate out of the way and stood. Everyone went silent as I walked over. This list was longer than I'd expected, and that hurt.

"Blubber-butt Ollie," I murmured, hearing Clint scoff behind me. I turned to the group and said, "this guy tried to arrest me once after I was WELL KNOWN around the precinct as a bounty hunter for impersonating a bounty hunter. Do you have any idea how pissed off it makes me that he's impersonating a cop?! Hypocritical prick!"

My eyes kept going down the list, and I wasn't surprised to see Gaspick there. He'd been too impressionable as a rookie, "he was overzealous when he started. He would have done whatever he was told. Was his training officer HYDRA?" I asked tapping the photo.

"Looks like," Sam agreed. "Mickey Bolan."

"Another crimes against persons cop," I murmured to myself. Noticing the name on right next to Bolan, I said, "Mickey Maglio a detective at various points for robbery and major crimes. That's lovely. Also, I think it should be a rule, if you're named after a famous cartoon character, you aren't allowed to be evil."

"Widespread corruption," Rhodey said sympathetically. "It wasn't just SHIELD, the armed forces had infiltration as well. I know how this feels, Steph."

I sighed and looked over at him, giving him a small smile. I turned back to the list, barely aware of Steve getting up and moving forward fast as I traced my fingers and eyes down to the next list. I let out a gasp at the next two, "no."

Staring out at me from the HYDRA list were "Big Dog" and "Crazy Carl." I strode back to the table and sat in Steve's vacated seat, taking his tablet and handing it to him to unlock. He did so without argument, and I read the detailed files they had on the two men. When I'd managed to bug them both, I'd actually figured that they were both on the good side. But that as patrol cops, they'd interact with a lot of the rest of the cops, perhaps providing us with information from the background.

Instead, I pushed play on a video from early this morning in which they met up with Dorsey and, delivering a message from the boss, beat him badly as punishment for not killing me the night before.

"How was I supposed to know she was on a date?" Dorsey had asked. "She went into the apartment, and Dembroski said she didn't leave."

"You should have verified it first," Carl spat on him. "We told you how to do it so we could frame a skip, and you can't even properly execute a plan that you didn't even have to make. Now she's on the run, and we don't know how to get her!"

I watched as Big Dog, whose perspective the video was from, delivered one last kick and said, "the boss will see you tomorrow, don't even think about blowing him off." Then he leaned down really close to the man and whispered in his ear almost like a threat, "hail HYDRA."

The video clicked off and I sat there in disbelief. I set my elbows on the table and put my face in my hands. No one said anything as I took in that betrayal, and Steve just slipped into the seat next to me. I could feel one of his big hands slide over to my rest on my leg and give it a comforting squeeze. Eventually, I picked my head back up and slid my hand down to take Steve's in mine under the table.

"I trusted them," I said.

Skye made a disgusted noise and said, "trust me, I've been there. It blows. My S.O., whom I thought I was a little bit in love with, was HYDRA too. He betrayed the hell out of me, and now he just so happens to be one of the ring leaders of this bunch."

"How'd you get a camera on each of them?" Bucky asked. "And why do it if you thought they were innocent?"

"It was the first day I got back and I had those cameras," I explained. "When I walked in with my skip, everyone was watching me, and my spidey sense was definitely going off. But even when I went into the bullpen, there were just too many people, and I couldn't narrow down who was giving me the bad feelings. Big Dog and Carl were there, and despite the fact that they liked to place bets on how long it will take for my car to blow up, I thought they were my friends. I knew I could get close. My reasoning was that as patrol cops who worked with whichever division was applicable for each crime, they'd talk to a lot of people and give us decent coverage in terms of number of people in TPD.

"So I made a big show of celebrating bringing in my skip without incident, and I hugged them both. I told them they better watch out because I was getting so good that maybe I'd get asked to join the force soon. They laughed and told me yeah right, the TPD couldn't afford to have squad cars blowing up that often. Still, I made a show of studying their badge numbers and making up reasons why I'd take that number from them. It was dumb, but it let me stick the cameras on without them getting suspicious."

"That's good," Coulson said.

"Yeah, sometimes I don't know how I make up half the shit I do," I agreed. "But it worked."

"And now we have two cameras on the inside, and from that conversation. From the way they spoke, it sounds like they might be in on that meeting tomorrow. If that's the case, and they don't find the cameras before then, we might get a location and a lot of really good intel," Natasha said.

"You know what I don't understand?" I mused.

"What?" Steve prompted.

"If HYDRA was behind the attack and they wanted me dead, why was this the plan. Why choose to have Dorsey using a firebomb?" I stood up and paced back over to the wall. I ripped Big Dog and Carl's pictures off and moved them higher up the wall so they were overlapping Dembroski and Dorsey a bit and those guys were four across. Slapping my hand down in frustration, I said, "I trusted them! If they wanted me dead, Carl and Big Dog could have come to my apartment, pretended to be worried about me, and told me they had to take me into protective custody or something.

"Hell, they could have even said that they knew Dembroski and Dorsey were dirty and promised to explain the situation all to me from a safe house. I would have gone! Then they could have just taken me into Slayer territory and shot me or something."

Steve's jaw locked at that information, and I could see anger in his eyes at just the idea of that happening.

Lincoln cleared his throat and said, "Steph, take a deep breath."

I realized I was shaking and my hands were glowing, so I nodded and did as he requested. Everyone waited until I had myself under control, then the spies started tossing out theories.

"Your neighbors could have seen, and possibly identified them," Clint said.

"Dembroski was probably assigned it as a way to prove that he wasn't a failure," Bucky added.

"And if Carl and 'Big Dog' are the type of cops people tend to trust, including fellow cops, they'll try to maintain cover for as long as possible," Natasha explained.

"Not to mention you would have at least tried to call Ranger, and possibly set off an alarm, right?" Steve asked.

"Oh God," I murmured, panic washing over me. I gestured over at Gazarra and Robin and urged, "we have to warn them."

It was Steve who opened his mouth and softly said, "I'm sorry, Steph, but we can't. If they start acting differently, and somehow accidentally warn HYDRA, they'll scatter. Then we'll have to track them down and we won't know where to start."

As much as I didn't want it to, that made sense, so I nodded. The rest of the names in the "HYDRA" category were no real surprise, so I turned my attention to the "suspicious" and "need more information" categories. Neither had pictures on the wall, but rather consisted of stacks of files again. Some of these we'd gone over before, but they wanted new impressions now that my spidey sense seemed to have been enhanced and I'd gone back into Trenton with the full context.

We sorted through the rest of the people, and it still sucked, but not as bad as those first two betrayals. By the time we made it to the bottom of the stack of files, I was worn out, and I knew whose file Natasha had in front of her. She'd held it back from the larger stack, and Bucky, who was sitting across from me, grabbed it from under her hands and sent it skidding to me.

Morelli.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the folder and found the inside empty. It threw me off. For some reason I thought I was going to open the folder and it would say HYDRA or friendly, and I'd know definitively one way or the other. I looked at Natasha, confusion on my face and she shrugged, "we want to hear about your relationship unfiltered first."

Here's the thing. Morelli and I had been an epically terrible mix. We were two people who had found our young lives intertwined and then when we'd crossed paths in adulthood decided to try to push that into meaning something it didn't. It had taken me years to realize how huge of a mistake it was, but for others, with the information I had now, it would look like it had been obvious from the beginning. There was no way to tell the story that wasn't going to be embarrassing.

"Steph," Wanda said from my other side, where she'd quietly moved during the peak of my distress. "My brother and I tried to help a robot take over the world because we were angry at Tony Stark. That's embarrassing."

"That's different," I mumbled.

"Do you know how many people I dated knowing full well they were using me to try to get to Tony, and that they'd drop me in a hot second if they thought they had a chance of getting him?" Rhodey asked. "That's embarrassing, and I didn't learn for decades. You clearly have learned. So let's hear it."

I blew out a breath and gritted out, "where do you want me to start?"

"At the beginning, please," Steve said, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze.

I sighed, and brought both hands up to the table to tap nervously. "The Morelli men are known for being no good. Morelli's dad, for instance, was a mean drunk who everyone knew smacked around Joe and his mom at least occasionally. When I was a kid, my mom told me that the Morelli boys were wild and did things to girls when they got them alone, and she told me to stay far away from them. Of course, to me that's like waving a red flag in front of a bull, so I didn't listen. Instead, I found myself two weeks later in Joe's father's garage to learn a new game."

"I really don't want to ask this," Sam said with a wince, "but how old were you and what was the game?"

"Six," I said. "he called it 'choo-choo,' and it involved him being under my skirt. His fingers were the train, I was the tunnel, you can fill in the blanks from there."

I looked around the table and saw a lot of fury in everyone's eyes, except for Steve and Natasha. I didn't know how Steve looked because I didn't want to know how he looked and was refusing to turn that way. On the other hand, I did look at Natasha, and she was keeping a carefully blank face, so I focused on her. Something about her calm acceptance allowed me to draw strength from her to continue on with my story.

Clearing my throat I said, "Over the next ten years, Morelli grew up on the wild side. Everyone swore he was going to take after the other Morelli men. He was hot, and he had a reputation for having fast hands and clever fingers. I hadn't seen him much after the train incident, and I told myself I was saving myself for marriage, or at least college. Then one night, he came into the bakery I was working in after school every day. He ordered a cannoli, told me he'd joined the navy, and then he waited around until closing and it took him four minutes or less to charm my pants off me on the floor behind a case of eclairs."

There was a cracking sound, and I looked over to see a chunk of the table in Steve's hands. He obviously knew I wasn't a virgin when we'd gotten together, so I was pretty sure the anger wasn't directed at me. Still, I couldn't make myself look him in the eyes, and instead I just winced and found Natasha's gaze once more, holding it as Clint asked gruffly, "how old were you? And how old was he?"

"I was 16, and he was 18. The age of consent in New Jersey is 16, so it was legal," I replied. "It was even legal for him to go around and write poems about me on the bathroom walls of public places on his way out of town. Needless to say, he didn't call."

That joke fell flat, so I tried, "hey, this will cheer you up. The next time I saw him was three years after that. I was driving down the street in my father's Buick and I saw him outside of Giovichinni's Meat Market. I was apparently still angry, and my brain went into autopilot. In this case autopilot meant hitting the gas, jumping the curb, and hitting him from behind. He bounced off the right front fender, and his leg broke."

Natasha's lips twitched with a smile and I heard Clint let out a whistle. Skye full on laughed and asked, "you didn't go to jail for that?"

"Nope. And I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations is up."

"So how is it you ended up dating this man?" Pietro asked incredulously.

"He was my first FTA as a bounty hunter," I said. "I'd just blackmailed my cousin into giving me the job and I saw his file. I was flat broke to the point that my car had just been repossessed, he was worth ten grand, and I was still a little bit pissed at him."

"What was the charge?" Steve asked, and he sounded calm so I hazarded a surprised look his way. He brought one of my hands up and gave it a kiss before confirming my unasked question, "no, I still haven't read your file. And I didn't read his because I figured you were in there."

"Thanks," I whispered. When I heard Clint snort, I looked over and he made a gagging noise, so I flipped him off with my free hand before picking up the story. "He was wanted for killing an unarmed man."

Lincoln clearly hadn't read my file either, and their team hadn't really been working this case heavily. "You said you had no training before you started!" He exclaimed, "and for your first case you took on a cop who was accused of killing an unarmed man?"

"Yes, and I'm curious as hell, so I started investigating the case too when things didn't add up. That is a really long story, but in the end I both brought him in and cleared his name. Then, I don't know. Have you ever witnessed one of those couples that yells and fights all the time, but they're still a couple? That was us.

"We'd date for a while, something would happen, usually in relation to my job or his insane Grandma Bella or him throwing away my peanut butter, and we'd fight. Often loudly and in public. Sometimes while my car or apartment was on fire, and then we'd invariably break up. One of us would get lonely, and then we'd be right back together again. I thought I loved him, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that even if I did, it wasn't enough, and the way he treated me was not okay. Now I realize that it definitely wasn't love in the first place, but at the time."

I put my hands on the table, fingers splayed out and tapped them a few times as I said, "I don't know what to tell you. It was a bad relationship."

"He ever hit you?" Clint asked.

"No," I said firmly. "He never physically abused me. I'm not saying I didn't yell at him, but when I did it was usually because he was yelling at me or trying to control me. When he yelled at me, he told me I was stupid and a disaster. He would tell me I was worthless at my job and that _I_ embarrassed _him_. I ended it when I finally realized how toxic that was."

By that point, I'd folded my hands in front of my on the table, and I was picking at the skin on my thumbs. I heard Sam softly say my name, and I looked up at him. His eyes didn't hold pity, like I'd feared they would. Instead they were full of pride and he said, "he was abusing you, and you figured it out and got out. That takes a lot of strength especially when I don't think you had external support from anyone, even your family."

I snorted at that, "my family kept pushing me to marry him, they thought he was my last chance at marriage and kids."

"Your parents knew how he treated you and they still wanted you to marry him? Weren't they afraid he'd start physically abusing you?" Skye asked.

"My father doesn't really pay attention anymore, and he never witnessed Morelli yelling at me. If he had, I'm fairly certain he would not have been okay with it. And if Morelli ever had hit me, and my dad found out about it, that would definitely NOT have gone well for Morelli. My mom yells the same things at me that Morelli used to, so I don't think she sees it as a problem. In her eyes, if Morelli had hit me before we got married, she would have told me to shut up and not do whatever I had done again so that he'd know I'd learned and be willing to marry me. If Morelli had hit me after we'd been married, she wouldn't have cared. Angie Morelli, Joe's mom, was abused for years, but she was a good Catholic and she kept an impeccable house. She is Burg royalty. That's the gold standard in the Burg- the men break the commandments, and all that matters is that you have the house presentable and a coffee cake ready for unannounced guests."

"That almost makes the orphanage sound good in comparison," Skye muttered.

Steve, for his part, had managed to keep himself in check after the table incident, but I was sniffling by the end of my explanation about my family and that was the final straw. He slid his chair back and gently transferred me from mine into his lap. I placed my head on his chest, and let him soothe me by combing his fingers through my hair.

I had the impression that Wanda might also be in my brain, helping to calm me. As soon as she deemed me relaxed enough, she was the one who asked the next question. "And what kind of cop is Morelli?"

I didn't say anything for a while as I gathered my thoughts and said, "that's a really tough question. You should ask Ranger as well because he's always said that Morelli was a good cop, but I don't know how he was measuring. It's possible he was just saying that to keep from pissing me off. After I broke up with Joe for good, Ranger definitely backed off on singing Joe's praises."

I sat up from Steve, but stayed on his lap and leaned forward to put my elbows on the table and my chin in my hand as I thought. "He's worked in Vice as well as Crimes Against Persons, which are two suspect groups here. I'm fairly certain he cheated on me on multiple occasions, and one of those times I thought he was cheating with Terri Gilman. She was one of the few people he actually actually dated in high school, and she's definitely connected to the mob. When I confronted him on that one, he said they were working on a case together, but I don't know whether or not that was true."

"We'll hack in and get his case files," Natasha said. "Then we can check."

"Uh, okay," I said. "Ranger killed a guy for me once, and Joe just let it go. Actually, I think Joe knew what Ranger was going to do before he did it, and let it happen anyway. Possibly Joe would have done it himself. But you could kind of go either way on whether or not that makes him a bad cop. The guy was seriously fucked up in the head and he was hell bent on killing me. Then again, Joe was a detective, so he should have been able to prove that, right?"

"Vlatko?" Bucky clarified.

"No," I said slowly. "I won't get into the details fully because, again, that's not my story. But Vlatko really wasn't about me specifically. Eddie Abruzzi was laser focused on me."

I rubbed the scar on my arm from where Abruzzi had burned me while torturing me, and I saw a room full of superheroes and spies immediately zero in on it. Before anyone could ask I said, "It was one of those fire poker things that he'd left in the fire. I passed out. He thought I had information that I didn't have."

Natasha was typing away on her tablet and she eyed me as she said, "says here Abruzzi committed suicide. Even left a note saying he was depressed over business deals gone bad."

"Yep," I responded. "Morelli said that he's a cop, so if he thought it was anything else, he was obligated to investigate. But he did think it was something else, we both _knew_ it was, and he didn't investigate it."

"What about other cases? Did you ever work any cases _together_?" Rhodey urged.

"Yes," I said. "And he always lied, held things back, and took the credit for things I figured out. He'd tell me it was because _he_ was the cop, but guys, I don't know if any of this means he was HYDRA. It could mean he is, or that he's working for the mob, or that he's not a dirty cop but is just an ass."

Sam snorted and said, "he verbally abused you for years and we all watched him assaulted you while you were handcuffed to a table in an interrogation room in police custody. He's definitely an ass."

I got up, carefully pulled the picture off of the folder, and walked over to the wall where were were organizing players. While I hovered in between the "suspicious" and "need more information" categories, Steve came up next to me and silently handed me a piece of tape. I took it, put it on the picture, and murmured, "I don't know how to separate out the personal on this one."

"I don't expect you to," he said calmly. "What does your gut say?"

I took a breath and slapped the picture up on the wall. Then I turned around and blew out a breath, announcing to the room at large, "I need a break and at least a pint of ice cream now."

* * *

A/N: No, I didn't tell you where Steph put the picture. Where do _you_ think she put it?


	21. Allies

**Chapter 21 - Allies**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

I started to leave the room, but stopped for a moment before I did. Turning back, I asked the group at large, "have we heard anything from the arson investigation yet?"

Clint stepped forward and said, "They found a diamond-tipped projectile that was used to shatter the windows. The incendiary device was a molotov cocktail, but a sophisticated one. Instead of using a wick that was on fire, they used a combination of chemicals that would explode on contact with oxygen after the bottle broke."

"Okay," I said, then I turned and finished walking out, making my way back in the direction of the rooms.

Behind me, I could hear Steve rushing to follow me, so I didn't even need my spidey sense to warn me before his hand slid around my waist. I leaned into him even as I said, "I'm okay, you don't have to come with me."

"Is that you not wanting to bother me if I have other things to do? Or do you want to be alone? Because I can leave you alone if that's what you want, but I'd rather spend some time with you. There's not much more to do before tomorrow morning when we'll hopefully get something big off the tape. I can be done for the day."

I used my outside hand to link my fingers with Steve's on the hand that was wrapped around my waist. Together we walked into the common room, and settled onto one of the couches there. I was sitting idly, not really doing anything, just contemplating the information that had been gathered so far and what I knew about Trenton. Or thought I knew.

Although I used to think of myself as an expert on Trenton, or at least the Burg, it seemed that I hadn't been as aware as I'd believed myself to be. And that grated. Eventually Steve got up and wandered away, only to come back a few minutes later with four different pints of ice cream and some spoons.

"There's more flavors if one of these doesn't look good; I tried to grab a variety. And if this isn't enough, again, there's more in the freezer."

I laughed and leaned over to give him a kiss and whisper my thanks before picking up a spoon. After a quick perusal, I snorted out a laugh and snagged the pint of "Chocolate Therapy" ice cream. Allowing a little sound of glee to escape me, I cracked off the plastic and peeled off the lid. Of course, once I got the first spoonful into my mouth, the sounds changed to moans and Steve started shifting in his seat.

Leaning over, Steve whispered, "it's so much worse now that I know what I can do to make you make that sound in private… or to make even better sounds."

I tried to think of a retort while making sure I didn't blurt out something about how wet that statement had made my panties. Thankfully, I was saved from having to speak by the rest of the team beginning to filter in without Coulson's team. Steve made a selection of ice cream, and when the others came in, Bucky snagged one and pulled Natasha down on his lap on the couch next to me.

Everyone kind of paused and looked at me, waiting to see if I was okay with Natasha being so close. Because I was over it and wanted to make that abundantly clear, I shifted to give them room to make themselves comfortable. Then I leaned forward and grabbed a spoon which I handed to Natasha with a smile.

The remaining pint was swiped up by Sam, and everyone else wandered into the kitchen and came back with snacks of their own- mostly ice cream.

We settled in and Steve asked, "you never did say. Why were you covered in pasta sauce last night when you got home?"

"My skip worked at a grocery store where they do samples in the afternoons and evenings. I went during the pre-dinner rush because he knew who I was and I thought I'd be able to get closer before he saw me."

"I take it that didn't work?" Rhodey asked kindly.

I sighed, "somebody else I vaguely know, who no doubt only wanted the latest gossip, called to me right before I got to him. He was a college track star, and he actually picked me up and threw me away from him and into a table of tomato sauce."

"Did you get him?" Pietro asked.

"Of course I did; I was pissed. All the rest of my skips had come in without a fuss, but that one had to go and ruin the streak right before I called in for an extraction. Do you have any idea how much I would have loved going a week of successful skip-tracing straight without any incidents for the people of Trenton to use as cannon fodder against me?"

Steve tensed up next to me, "you didn't say anything about an extraction when you got back."

"Well, you distracted me. Isn't that why you were there anyway? Whichever of the trio of spies was following me also saw the bad guy following and called you in as backup?"

"No, I was just there because I missed you," Steve said slowly. "If I'd known, we would have left immediately, Steph!"

"Awwww," I responded, feeling warm inside at his revelation.

"Wait," Natasha said, "none of us were following you either. You asked us to trust you to take care of yourself with backup from Rangeman, so we did. Are you saying you had two people following you?"

Probably I should have been worried that I had another, unidentified person following me last week instead of one of Steve's teammates, but I didn't really know what to think of that. It was more fun and less scary to focus on the fact that my boyfriend had missed me too much to stay away.

"Well, the first one was definitely not a threat," I said. "Which is why I didn't say anything. I figured it was just one of you even though that was overkill with the Rangeman SUV that was following me. If I'd known it wasn't you or thought it was dangerous, I would have told when I checked in!"

"We are going to need to work on our communication," Bucky practically growled.

"Tell us about the second one," Vision urged.

"He, or she I suppose, just showed up that last day," I explained. "It felt similar to how it would feel when I had stalkers before. Except in the past I always wondered if I was imagining things, and this time it was obviously actually my spidey sense."

"Did you see anyone?" Clint asked.

"No," I admitted. "But I know someone was there!"

"We believe you," Sam reassured me. "About both people."

"Did Ranger's people see anyone?" Clint asked.

"I think they would have told me if they had, but hold on a second," I replied. Whipping out the original phone Natasha had provided me the first time, which had been replaced by an inconspicuous one for my trip to Trenton, I pulled up my contacts. Before I could dial Ranger, however it started ringing. "Shit, it's Grandma Mazur; I have to answer. Just give me a minute."

I started trying to get up, but Steve just held me where I was and pressed speakerphone as he mouthed, "just in case she's in trouble."

I nodded my head, as I answered, "Hi, Grandma!"

"There's my baby granddaughter! Why didn't you call to tell us you were okay? We heard about your apartment almost as soon as it happened and we were waiting for you to call!"

"Didn't Ranger stop by and tell you I was okay?"

"Yes, and thanks for letting me have the opportunity to ogle him and his men, but I still like to hear from you! Plus, I want to know the story. I have a hair appointment in an hour, and I have to know what's going on. The ladies will be expecting me to know."

"Well, you know how my life is," I said. "Someone firebombed my apartment. No big surprise there."

"How'd you get out of there? I hear it was one pip of a fire!"

"I wasn't home, Grandma; I was on a date!"

"A date!" she practically crowed with glee. "Did he put out?"

Steve made a choked sound of surprise, and I could see Bucky and Natasha in my periphery stifling laughs, so I just sighed. "So, don't you need to be heading to the hairdresser soon?"

"I've got a few minutes," she said. "Oh, that reminds me. There's a viewing I want to go to tonight. Any chance you can swing by for dinner with your young man and then give me a ride to the viewing? This is the second time you've mentioned this man of yours. When do we get to meet him? Are you bringing him to dinner this weekend? How's his package? More important, does he know how to use it?"

Over his initial shock, Steve was now shaking with laughter right along with Bucky and Natasha. Everyone else crowded around so that they'd be able to better hear what was going on. They really needed to get a life, but I knew they didn't mean anything by it, they were just curious about my gun-toting Grandma.

"I actually don't think I can make dinner," I explained. "I'm staying with my boyfriend until my apartment gets fixed, and he lives in Upstate New York. It's a bit of a drive just for dinner."

I thought it best not to mention the Nazis trying to kill me and just general security risk involved in my life these days.

"Don't forget about the viewing!"

"Even with the viewing, Grandma. I don't think we'll make it down for dinner and a trip to the funeral home today," I said calmly, ignoring the looks of amusement I was getting from everyone now that they could all hear.

"How are you going to catch your skips from all the way up there?" Grandma asked.

"I'm taking a break from bounty hunting," I said.

"Oooh, that's good!" Grandma said, "I can use that one. No one else has mentioned that yet, that'll be a hot scoop for sure. What are you doing now for money? You got one of them arrangements going like Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in _Pretty Woman_?"

"No!" I exclaimed, looking at Steve in panic as I scrambled to come up with a suitable fib. "Ranger's got a few friends from his army days out here, and I'm doing some… security consulting for them."

Technically, not untrue, and I could see Steve's small smile and nod to go with it.

"Well, you're going to have to come back to Trenton to deal with your apartment, right? I expect you to stop by for lunch at least when you do. And you bring that young man of yours with you. Your mother would tell you the same thing, but she's too busy tippling and ironing right now. The phone hasn't stopped ringing since last night!"

"I'll try, Grandma," I said. "But Ranger might deal with my apartment for me. Something tells me my landlord might finally kick me out after this one anyway."

"Then we'll have to go apartment hunting together! I love apartment hunting!"

"I'm actually not sure what I'm going to do," I said. "But when I figure it out, I'll let you know. Oh, hey, look at the time. I've got to go do a very important security thing."

"Okay, well, visit when you can!"

"Will do, love you, Grandma," I said. Then I had a thought of trying to make my mom's life easier and said, "hey, when you go to the viewing. If the casket is closed, _leave it closed_."

"Love you too, Baby Girl!" she said, hanging up without promising to be on her best behavior.

I sighed, "she's going to pry that thing open."

"She sounds like fun," Pietro said. "Suddenly the fact that she got arrested with an illegal weapon is not so surprising."

"I've lost track of the number of guns my mom has confiscated from her," I said.

"And she mentioned going to a viewing, and you mentioned a funeral home, so I understand that to mean there has been a death. I'm sorry for your loss." Vision said.

I waved him off and said, "no one I know. She just likes to go for fun."

"For fun your grandmother goes to viewings and forces open caskets?" Rhodey asked.

"She takes it as a personal offense if there is a closed casket," I explained. "She thinks that if she makes the effort to get dressed up and go to the viewing, the least they could do is display the dead body. No matter what happened to it."

Not really wanting to go any further into _that_ conversation, I dialed Ranger.

"Yo," he answered.

"Yo yourself," I shot back.

"Babe."

"Did whoever was on guard for me yesterday happen to see anyone following me?" I got to the point and asked.

"No, they would have reported it to me if they had. Why, did you?"

"No, it was more of a feeling I had," I said. "Don't suppose you had two teams on me? One in the car and one in the shadows?"

"No," Ranger replied again, clearly sounding upset at the information.

"Oh, well, just wanted to check," I said. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"Babe." Ranger trusted my gut.

"Yeah," I said, allowing some of my worry to come out in my voice. "Hey, I hate to ask it, but any chance you could-"

Ranger cut my off to say, "I've got a team on your family. They're staying out of sight, but I'm rotating shifts of people your family has seen before so as not to make them too nervous."

I blew out a relieved breath, "thanks, Ranger. Uh, you might want to warn whoever is on duty tonight that Grandma is planning to go to a viewing at the funeral home."

I could almost hear a sigh come out of Ranger just before he responded, "Babe."

I snorted a small laugh at that response because I thought it might mean that Ranger was planning to take the shift now that I'd mentioned a possible stalker. "Don't get shot," I told him.

"Don't go crazy," he retorted before hanging up.

"You think we're weird?" Clint asked dryly.

"I may have a few quirks of my own," I said. "But I don't go to viewings for fun, that's Grandma's thing. I usually just, I don't know, watch a movie if I happen to have some downtime."

Wanda spread her arms out wide as though indicating that we weren't doing anything at the moment and said, "you know, it has been awhile since our last movie night."

"Yeah, Steph! You pick because you're the new kid!" Clint called.

"Ummm… Ghostbusters?" I tried tentatively.

Sam snorted, but nodded his head in agreement before teasing, "you're girl's got classic taste, Steve. I'm guessing you haven't seen this one yet?"

Steve confirmed that he had not, and I smiled at being the one to introduce him to one of my all time favorite movies. Apparently FRIDAY had been listening, and when there were no objections, a giant screen slid down from the ceiling, in front of the windows, and all the lights were turned down as seats were shifted to the optimal viewing angle and the theme song rolled.

By the time I finished my ice cream, I was feeling much better. It only got better when Steve shifted us so we were cuddled completely together. The emotional wear and tear of the past day combined with not enough sleep and several rigorous rounds of sex started to catch up to me, and I felt myself start to drift off on Steve's chest. Who could blame me? It was soothing to rest against him while he fiddled with my hair and occasionally chuckled at the movie.

I probably would have fallen completely asleep if it hadn't been for the sudden intrusion of real thunder outside. "That's odd," I murmured. "It didn't look like it was going to storm earlier."

"Thor," chorused the room around me, but no one seemed to be getting up to go greet the man. Alien? God? I didn't know what to call him, even in my head, but I took my cue from the group and I stayed where I was, feeling Steve press a kiss to my head when I settled back down. Several minutes later, FRIDAY paused the movie and raised the lights as a bustle of noise hit the room from the entryway. A loud, female voice was hissing out, "Thor, Jane, I'm sure they don't want _me_ in here! I'm working for them; I'm not one of them."

We turned from where we were seated and saw a big mountain of a man who had to be Thor standing next to two much smaller women. The one with the wavy brown hair caught sight of me cuddled up to Steve, and a huge grin spread across her face. "Did you finally find yourself a lady friend, Cap?" she asked excitedly.

Steve chuckled and said, "it's good to see you again, Darcy. Hi Jane, Thor. This is my girlfriend, Steph. Steph, this is Darcy, Jane, and Thor."

I stood and started to walk over to them with my hand out, only to be scooped up into a giant hug by Thor. "It is so wonderful to meet you, Lady Stephanie!"

"Uh, just Stephanie is fine," I said. Squeaking out an uncertain, "Thor?" at the end. I had no clue how to address him, but Jane just smiled and nodded as though she understood what made me uncomfortable and wanted to confirm that I had made the correct selection.

"There is something about you I find odd," Thor said. "Are you Midgardian?"

"I don't know what that is," I stammered, fully aware of the fact that this man, who was still holding me had become more tense. Thor could crush me easily from the hold he had on me and without my feet on the ground, I would have a hard time stopping him.

"Hey, Big Guy," Darcy said. "Think you can put Steph down? She looks like a regular Earthling to me, and I'd like to greet her myself. Any woman who can get Cap's attention has gotta be worth meeting, am I right?"

"There is power in you that does not belong in one from Midgard," Thor said with a frown, but he set me down nonetheless. I offered my hand to Darcy and Jane in turn, and each took it quickly before Steve pulled me into and then behind him.

He was standing between Thor and I, and had even picked up his shield from I don't know where- I guessed it had to have been sitting next to the couch somehow. Thor warily took in his stance, hand tightening on his hammer and moving Jane and Darcy behind him, as he squared off with Steve.

"What troubles you, my brother?" Thor asked, shadows visible in his eyes, "that you would greet me so."

I tried to move to Steve's side, but his hand tightened and he commanded, "Bucky."

Bucky moved forward, and I felt him gently pull me away from Steve until I was behind Bucky. I had a two super-soldier wall between me and a freaking god, and I was starting to feel very nervous about why I would need that.

"Steven," Thor said again. "Please explain; is she not Midgardian?"

"She is," Steve explained. "However, she is Inhuman; she has just days ago undergone a process called Terrigenesis-"

Before Steve could explain further, Thor hollered, "then she is not safe. You must let me take her to Asgard."

I gasped as my body felt a powerful wave of danger and rage directed my way. At once, I stopped trying to get around Bucky, choosing instead to shift more fully behind him.

"She is staying here," Steve said firmly. "I trust her, and she is the newest member of our team."

"You speak of things you do not understand! These people, they are made to be weapons!"

"So was I!" Steve yelled. "And so were Bucky, Natasha, Pietro, Wanda, and Vision!"

"Vision can lift Mjolnir; he is worthy. Therefore, I trust him implicitly. You are allowing yourself to be compromised by nothing more than a pretty face; I thought you wiser than this!"

Vision floated over between the two men, facing Thor he said, "I have studied Stephanie, as has Wanda. She represents no threat to us, of that I am certain. In fact, she is a fiercely loyal person, and she will be a great ally as our teammate."

Wanda floated herself next to Vision, and stared at Thor. "I have seen what she can do for our team; you must welcome her."

Everyone else assembled in front of me in a protective half circle, and Thor eyed them warily. "This is the will of all?"

"Yes," they chorused.

"Then so it shall be," he said. Shifting, Thor made eye contact with me once more as he relaxed his stance, "it is a pleasure to have you on our side. Please forgive me for the manner of our meeting, fellow warrior. The people who created your ancestors and my people have a long and vile history. Your kind have been a danger to Asgard for many generations- you were created with our annihilation in mind as well as others who live in realms which I am sworn to protect. However, if all these who I trust dearly believe you to be an ally, than so to shall I. I hope, in time, you will forgive my rudeness and we may become friends."

I took a deep breath then took a wary step forward. Bucky allowed me to pass him, and Steve, who had dropped his shield, pulled me encouragingly to his side. "I am sorry for whatever was done to your people in the past, but I had nothing to do with it. I assure you that I mean no harm to you or any realm; hopefully you can believe that for yourself… in time."

Thor bowed his head, and I returned the gesture. Our silence stretched only a few seconds before Darcy cut in, "so, what exactly is an Inhuman?"

"Thousands of years ago, a faction of the Kree came to Midgard to create a slave warrior army through genetic modification of humans that would be unlocked through a process called Terrigenesis. They were shut down by another faction of Kree, and their experiments were, for hundreds of years, believed to have been a failure. That is until the first of the Diviners, devices that contained Terrigen Crystals, was discovered and used to activate the genetic modifications," Thor spoke, still eyeing me cautiously though I no longer felt the danger emanating from his presence. "The abilities unlocked by the Terrigenesis can be unstable, unsafe, powerful, unpredictable, and are highly variable."

I could feel the wide-eyed fear that must have still been obviously displayed on my face because Darcy and Jane stepped between Thor and I. Smiling kindly, Jane said, "it really is nice to meet you. I apologize if Thor seems a little on edge, he has been gone investigating danger on the universal level, and he brought us here to be safe. He just wasn't expecting someone unknown to be here."

I smiled at her kindly and nodded in understanding. Then, figuring I should offer an olive branch, I said, "Thor, I don't want you to be surprised, so I will tell you that there are two others like me here on the compound. They've been helping me with my transition and learning to control my powers. I would appreciate it if you didn't… smite them?"

When Thor's frown returned and he didn't say anything, Darcy reached around Jane to elbow him. Hard. Then she smiled at me and said, "he'll be on his best smite-free attitude unless someone proves himself untrustworthy."

"Coulson vouches for them," Natasha reassured Thor from my side, and I managed just barely not to jump as I hadn't realized she'd moved there.

"So you were right," Thor said with a smile, "Son of Coul lives?"

"Yes," Clint said happily. "And he trusts the two he brought with him with his life."

"Then they must be honorable as well," Thor said with a nod. "My people can be a bit stuck in our ways at times; I will evaluate the situation. Perhaps we should be looking to these Inhumans as allies. For in times like these, the need for allies is great."

"So, what can you do?" Darcy asked bluntly.

I glanced sideways at Steve who nodded to reassure me that it was okay to share before I replied, "well, I absorb energy and then I can do things with it. The absorbing part is easy to figure out because it's just one thing, but we've been trying to figure out what all I can do with it… when we haven't been trying to figure out what HYDRA's deal is."

"They're a bunch of cowardly mother fuckers," Darcy said gruffly. "That's what their deal is. The energy stuff sounds awesome. Can you do anything else?"

I shrugged, "I have this intuition thing that lets me know if people are near and whether or not they're a threat to me, but… that one's pretty vague at the moment."

"You have a spidey sense?" Darcy asked. When I doubled over in laughter, she asked, "what?"

"That's what she called it before she went through the Terrigenesis thing and it got more powerful," Steve explained.

"Of course you did," Darcy said offering me a fist bump, which I accepted. "That's the only thing that makes sense to call it! So… what's your Avenger name if you're on the team?"

"My Avenger name?" I asked.

"Everyone but Vision or Thor has one," Darcy said. "And his name is Vision, so he gets away with it. And Thor, well, it's the name of a freaking mythological God, even if he technically _isn't_ that, so he really doesn't need another one. There's nothing wrong with the name Steph, but you really can't be Captain America, Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Falcon, War Machine, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Vision, and _Steph_. That would be so 'one of these things is not like the others' of you."

I looked over at Steve with an expression that very clearly said I hadn't even agreed to be an Avenger yet, so he smoothly cut in with, "she doesn't have one yet, in fact, she just agreed to join. We've been trying to get her to join ever since she got her powers, and Coulson's team was trying to get her on their team as well."

Darcy rubbed her hands together and said, "oh, goody! I can totally help with that! Now, are you going to the gala week after next? Because we will probably want to introduce you there as the newest Avenger. It's up to you and Steve whether or not we introduce you as his girlfriend. What color is your uniform?"

I opened my mouth to say I didn't have one of those yet either, when Tony Stark entered the room saying, "that's what I'm here for. New uniform designing, complete with custom material creation if needed. Which I'm assuming it will be, given the whole energy thing. Now, here are my initial designs."

I gaped as I saw a several life-sized computer generated version of me appear on the walls around us, all wearing various uniforms. Steve and I would have to talk about this later, but this seemed a little like a runaway train headed where I was planning to go anyway.

It seemed I was an Avenger.


	22. Joule

**Chapter 22 - Joule**

 _ **Steve's POV**_

As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I'd made a mistake. Steph said she was _thinking_ about joining the Avengers. But she hadn't said for sure one way or the other. Sure we'd joked about both of us talking as though it was a done deal, but they were just jokes. Private jokes.

The look on Steph's face told me we would be talking later, and I cursed myself ten times a fool. I couldn't think of the last thing I'd done regarding that had been so dumb in ages. Perhaps during the war when I'd called Peggy a "beautiful dame" and said that I didn't understand why she'd want to join the army given that she was one.

Still, the look on Thor's face when he'd realized there was something different about Steph had chilled me to the core. In that second I'd flashed back to our first meeting and the fight between him and Tony. Not to mention the feel of the power behind his hammer as it had crashed into my shield and we'd leveled half of a forest. The thought of Steph on the receiving end of that frightened me, so I'd said the only thing I could think of to make Thor back down.

By saying that she was a teammate, I'd placed her in the position of Thor's equal. It was a position that he would respect. I would readily admit that I was surprised when Steph, or any of the other team members, didn't contradict me given that we'd just had the conversation a couple hours ago about how Steph was only considering joining.

We'd expected Thor's return any day, as he'd been checking in every 2-4 weeks and had already been gone for more than two. Because of what Coulson had told us about Kree and Asgardian relations, as well as what Thor had told me separately of the Kree, I was concerned about the meeting. In the end, however, with my declaring Steph a teammate, the issue had been resolved more quickly than I'd anticipated.

What I hadn't expected, however, was Tony's presence. Usually he called before he arrived, and if he had something he wanted to discuss with Thor, he asked us to have Thor stop by the Tower. Even if he had something for Steph, he wouldn't usually deliver it in person… something more was going on. I also had no idea how he knew about Steph, and it seemed she was similarly curious.

"Tony, how'd you?..." Steph trailed off, unsure of how to ask the question.

"I flew here in my an Iron Man suit when I picked the storm up materializing out of nowhere on the radar. Hadn't seen Point Break in a while, so I had FRIDAY watching for any such anomaly."

That seemed reasonable, but when he looked over at me, he had an almost playfully challenging look on his face. I felt tired already. Being on the receiving end of one of those looks from Tony usually made for a very long day. I looked over at Natasha, and she inclined her head with a nod that told me she saw it too, but her apologetic expression informed me that she didn't know what was coming down the pipe for me.

"I was actually going to go with, 'how'd you know about me?' I wasn't powered yet when we met." Steph could see him getting riled up, so she quickly added, "I don't mind, just curious."

"I was checking up on you every couple of days. Just with FRIDAY, making sure you hadn't been harassed anymore by the cops and you didn't need anything," Tony shrugged casually, trying to downplay that he'd been doing something with kind intentions. "Cap made your power training session accessible by teammates, but he didn't specify active over inactive, so FRIDAY gave me the footage. Pretty impressive stuff. Then this morning, very early, I might add, FRIDAY alerted me to your name being on the police scanners in Trenton."

Steph sucked in a breath and said, "I didn't know you were doing that, we would have called to say we were okay."

Tony waved it off and said, "FRIDAY told me that too, as soon as that information went over the radios. Still, I made a stop by Rangeman and talked with Ranger. He took me by in one of the SUV's to see what's left of the apartment from the backseat so no one would recognize me. It's bad, Steph. Pepper and I are going to do what we can through one of our more anonymous charities to help your neighbors. And I thought you could probably use some cheering up, so I brought these by for your design input."

"Wow, I don't know…" Steph's chin wobbled, but she took a deep breath and simply said, "thanks, Tony."

Knowing she'd probably need a couple minutes, I said, "thanks, Tony. Excuse us for a moment?"

I didn't wait for a response, just picked Steph up and carried her off to my room. As we left, I could hear Darcy asking urgently what had happened, and Natasha offering a whispered explanation.

When we reached my room, I set Steph on the bed, kneeling in front of her as I carefully asked. "On a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 is the hulk, how angry are you with me right now?"

"Oh, you mean because you just made me a _fucking Avenger_ without my permission?" she asked dryly.

I held back the wince and gave her an apologetic smile, "yes, that. I might be able to get you out of it, if you want…"

Steph smiled softly then put her hands on either side of my face and gave me a kiss. "Thanks, but I think it's okay. If I'm honest with myself, I probably would have wanted to choose this anyway, but I think I would have been too scared. This way, there's no backing down. And you and I both know you'd have a hell of a time extracting me from this situation- it's the only thing that kept Thor from going postal."

I mouthed the words "going postal" to myself, and Steph stifled a little giggle, so I sighed and said, "I've gotten the major ones, but there was a lot of slang in seventy years. What does this have to do with mail?"

"It means going on a rampage, basically. See, there were a few years where postal workers kept going into work and killing their bosses and coworkers."

"That's… sad," I concluded. "But, you've done nothing wrong, and we can manage Thor if we need to, Steph. You can't do this unless it is something you actually want to do; it is not an easy life."

I waited while Steph searched for the right words, watching a look of pure resolve overtake her face that I was sure Bucky had seen on mine more than once. "Steve, if this is who I am now, and Skye and Lincoln assure me there's no undoing it, then I want to help as many people as possible. I'd help some people bounty hunting, but I'll help more people this way."

"It's really dangerous," I said, knowing I was obligated to make sure she understood that before she signed on.

"Steve, I understand that," she reassured me. "I'm going to do it anyway."

I studied her a little longer, reading the depths of her eyes and finding only conviction. I nodded my head and said, "okay." We shared a few kisses, then I pulled back and said, "if you don't mind, can you distract Tony for a while so I can figure out what he's up to?"

"Do I mind designing my super hero costume? Hell no. Do you know how many times I did that as a kid when I played Wonder Woman? But what do you mean figuring out what Tony is up to? I thought he wanted to talk to Thor and give me a uniform."

I chuckled at the idea of a young Stephanie playing Wonder Woman, but then I explained, "those are excuses. I'm pretty sure he's done something to mess with me."

Steph shrugged and said, "okay."

"You really aren't mad?" I asked, turning around at the door to go back and grab my laptop on a whim.

With a shrug she said, "I probably should be, but it seems like a waste of time and energy. Don't make a habit of it though."

"I promise not to ever again make you an Avenger without your permission," I teased. Then more seriously I said, "I am sorry though. I just wanted to keep things from going sideways with Thor, but that's no excuse. There is no excuse for making such a huge life decision without your input."

"Generally speaking, I'm a fan of not getting hit by Thor and his hammer," Steph said.

I slid my arm around her waist and we walked back out to the living room together. Everyone was talking quietly in small groups, and when Darcy looked up and saw us, she smiled. And that reminded me of what she'd been saying as she'd walked in.

"Darcy," I said waiting for her to look back to me once again. "What you were saying earlier is completely wrong. Of course we want you here with us. You'll find your room across the hall from the one belonging Thor and Jane."

"Thanks!" Darcy said with a bright smile, which turned mischievous as she asked, "the rooms are soundproofed, right?"

Jane flushed in response to the question, and Tony asked if Darcy really thought he was too cheap to make sure the bedrooms were built right. While they bickered, Steph wandered around the room assessing the various life sized images of herself before loudly declaring, "this is extremely disconcerting."

"Such is Tony's way," Natasha reassured her. "Now, what do you think?"

"I think these are all way better than when I tied a pillowcase around my neck and pretended to be Wonder Woman while jumping off the roof of a garage as a kid."

I winced and asked, "how'd that go for you?"

"Well, shockingly, I didn't fly," she retorted. "Also I broke the neighbor's rosebush, ripped my pants, and my mom was pissed as hell, so all in all, I'd say it was a failure."

Clint snickered, and said, "still, if Wonder Woman is your style, I'm sure Tony could come up with something more in that style. Pepper probably wouldn't let him-"

He was cut off by Tony and Darcy loudly yelling, "no capes!"

I chuckled at their antics before settling down on the couch with my laptop only half listening to the conversation around us. I had a lot of emails to go through, including a decent amount of paperwork that I couldn't put off any longer.

For half an hour, I worked while setting aside my concerns about Tony's motives. Then, because I knew Darcy would be logging in the next day and if she saw how long it had been since I had done so would give me a lecture, I opened up Facebook in my Internet browser window. I typed in my password, only to receive an error message saying I had used the incorrect password.

According to Facebook, my password had been changed over twenty four hours earlier. With a sigh, I said, "Tony, did you hack the Avengers' Facebook pages again?"

I watched him bite his lip and say totally unconvincingly, "nooooooo."

"What did you do?" I asked. When all I got in response was a laugh, I tried, "what's my password?"

That time I got a smirk, and Natasha walked over and sat next to me on the couch. She took the laptop out of my lap and started opening windows, fingers flying across the keyboard. Instead of trying to figure out what she was doing, I turned to Steph and asked, "can I borrow your phone?"

With a shrug, Steph said, "you can, but I don't have a Facebook account."

"That's okay, my timeline and the team's page are pretty much public, and I'm sure anything Tony did is public, so I won't need an account to see. I'm also fairly certain he'll have remotely done something to my phone so that I can't access Facebook from it."

Steph tossed her phone to me, and I had to dive a little to catch it. In response, I raised my eyebrow and she shrugged, "throwing is pretty much never part of bounty hunting. Hector tried to show me how to throw knives ONE time, after that we stuck to other skills."

Natasha and Bucky both perked up at the mention of knives, and I just shook my head before turning back to the phone. A few taps later I was looking at my Facebook profile and groaning, "where did you even get this photo?"

"FRIDAY," Tony retorted, still smirking. "Hey is it fair for the single people of America to think they have a chance when they don't?"

Steph's eyes went wide, and she asked, "what did he do?"

"Oh, you know, just changed my relationship status from nothing listed to 'in a relationship' and attached a picture of us."

"What?!" Steph shrieked.

Darcy looked up from her own phone and said, "if it's any consolation Steph, there's no way to know it's you. All that is showing is the top and back of your head, and it's a sweet picture."

Natasha looked over at the screen on Steph's phone and assessed the picture before saying, "it is."

"It's a private picture," I argued.

"Actually, Cap," Darcy said. "I think this is a good thing. I was planning to talk to you all about the fact that you needed to stop hiding once I finished planning this damn last minute gala. While I understand why you may have been doing that, you need to get the public back on your side. And this will be a nice, positive news story. You look happy with your eyes shut pressing a kiss to Steph's forehead. There's nothing even remotely scandalous about that."

Steph looked over my shoulder and said, "awww, that is a sweet picture."

"You're supposed to be on my side of this," I said with a smile.

She leaned over the back of the couch to give me a kiss and said, "of course I am, but what are you going to do about it now?"

To punctuate the point, Natasha handed me back my laptop with a screen that was Facebook prompting me to enter a new password. I walked into my bedroom, ordered privacy mode, and typed one in. Then I walked back out, and Tony rolled his eyes at me, "don't need your password to hack it again, Cap."

Natasha was now perched on Bucky's lap as she asked, "so, what're you going to do, Steve?"

I shrugged, "not really anything I can do at this point, right? Other than leave it. Doesn't make sense to release a statement saying my account was hacked and the information was not intended to be posted... for so many reasons. Plus, the picture is clearly me."

"Exactly!" Tony said gleefully.

I thought about going back to email again, but Steph was still leaning against the back of the couch, so instead I set my laptop on the table and took my seat once more, pulling Steph over the back and onto my lap carefully. She giggled, and I caught a benevolent smile on Thor's face as he watched the interaction. Into her ear I whispered, "we're going to have to work on your throwing. You can't be an Avenger and throw like that."

"Give me a break! What could I possibly need to throw?"

Natasha, Clint, and Bucky all said, "a knife."

Sam went with, "a rock."

Rhodey and I said, "grenade."

Everyone else stayed out of it, and Steph just pouted. Darcy was smiling at us, and then her gaze fixated on Bucky and Natasha as though she just realized they were there. I watched, completely baffled and a little concerned as she frowned.

Of course, as was usually the case, I didn't have to wonder for long what she was thinking because she opened her mouth and said, "wait a minute. You guys?" She gestured to Bucky and Natasha, then to the latter said, "I thought you and Clint were together?"

Natasha snorted out a laugh, and when I looked at Clint he had a look of absolute disgust on his face as though you'd said that he and his sister, Laura, were an item. "No!" he exclaimed. "Gross! Why do people _always_ think that?"

"Probably the telepathy thing," Sam said. "It's obvious you two are close."

Clint made a noise of disbelief, and Darcy frowned. Then her grin widened and she pointed at Clint, "if I don't have to worry about the Black Widow killing me for encroaching on her territory, then you are so taking me out on a date!"

Clint seemed confused as he said, "me? But I'm old."

Natasha threw a pillow at him and said, "don't be an idiot."

At the same time, Darcy scoffed and said, "not really! Those two guys are 90 and Thor is over a thousand years old! You're a spring chicken in comparison."

"Yeah, but they're enhanced…" Clint caught the glare that Natasha was giving him, and paled a little before turning back to Darcy and walking over to her. I heard him start by saying, "I would be honored."

Wanting to give them privacy, I gave my attention back to Steph in my lap. I looked at the remaining uniform designs that were all shifted onto the screen we'd been watching the movie on earlier and asked, "so, what's going on here?"

Steph shrugged, "I don't have to be as armored as you and Bucky because I shouldn't be doing the same kind of heavy close quarters combat you two do. I also don't want or need to be as slinky as Natasha for a whole host of reasons, largely involving the huge gap between our skills and… flexibility."

"You need some armor," I said.

"Wanda doesn't have any!" Steph argued.

"Her jackets are armored," I said. "Plus her powers are a little more all-seeing than yours. Not to mention she's never fought hand-to-hand before. I agree that won't be your primary function, but you appear very trustworthy, so you might get sent into some dangerous situations because you'll be able to get near people easily."

"And you've fought in close quarters before," Natasha urged. "I'm willing to bet you won't be able to stay out of it half the time anyway."

Steph grumbled, but called for FRIDAY to display a particular design. It had a fitted tactical top, though it was smooth across the front, unlike mine. It was done in a medium grey with a pair of light blue lines with black outlines down the center, separated by a black zipper. There were additional blue lines on either side of a darker, charcoal grey contour colored section along her sides. The shirt went over her shoulders into short sleeves, but the shoulders were armored as well. It had a v-neck and was clearly made to fit the female figure, however, the neckline was high enough to not show any cleavage and be decidedly modest. Across her right chest was the Avengers logo in blue.

On top of the shirt was a black leather jacket that went about halfway down her torso. most of the accents were in black, but there were lines of blue along the collar, the bottom of the jacket, and the cuffs that folded back below the elbow. She also had the Avengers logo on the right breast of the jacket, but it was detailed into the leather itself and not colored. At first glance, the length of the jacket looked to be a fashion statement, but then I realized it would allow her easier access to things on the utility belt on her waist. It was a pretty standard utility belt, but I was satisfied to notice that it held plenty of ammunition and other pouches.

On her left hip would be the stun gun she was apparently well-versed in the use of, and on her right thigh was a gun. The pants were in the same medium grey as the top, but rather than being tightly fitted like Natasha's uniform or the SHIELD catsuits, they were basically cargo pants like Bucky and I wore. Hers had more of the color-blocking that I gathered was supposed to look slimming- not that she needed it- along the inside of the thighs and her hips in charcoal. Also in that dark grey were knee pads, though they were smaller than mine, more similar in size to Natasha's. They tucked into a simple pair of women's combat boots in the two tones of grey.

"Both the jacket and the shirt are armored, right?" I asked.

"Yes," Steph said on a sigh. "This version of the top can even be pretty heavily armored, right Tony?"

Tony nodded his head and said, "we can add in little individual ab muscle armor plates like Cap has if you want."

"No, that's okay," Steph said while the others snorted out laughs. "I like it this way, just, you know, make sure I can breathe, please?"

More quietly she whispered to me, "do you like it?"

"I do, but you're the one who has to wear it," I reminded her. Then I added, "it is missing one thing though."

"You going to pull your hair back?" Bucky asked gruffly.

"Probably the safest bet, right?" Steph said. "So I assumed so."

Natasha shrugged, "I prefer mine down, ponytails are easy to grab onto in a hand-to-hand fighting situation."

"Braid it into a low bun," Darcy commented from where she was now sitting off to the side very close to Clint.

"What do you mean?" Steph asked.

"Thor?" Darcy said, and the god happily walked over and sat in front of her. I stood up and walked over to get a better view and timed her as she went through the process. Three minutes later, she had Thor's hair braided and tucked neatly at the nape of his head. When I walked back to the couch, Natasha wordlessly handed me some bobby pins. I replayed what Darcy had done in my head, mentally modifying it for Steph's curlier hair. A minute and a half later, it was tucked away just as neatly.

Steph turned and shot me a surprised look, so I shrugged and said, "some of the girls on the USO tour for selling the war bonds wore their hair in a similar manner for the show. It didn't take me long to get ready, and there was almost always someone who needed help."

Steph looked to be suppressing a laugh as she said, "I bet they fought over who got your help each day." Then she added, "seriously though, I feel like I probably need to be able to do my own hair and quickly, right?"

I shrugged as Darcy was asserting that she could teach Steph how to do it. Quietly I asked Bucky, "did you get it?"

"I think so," he said. I stood up so he could take my place, and he quickly undid Steph's hair then did it up again.

When he was done, it looked almost exactly the same. He moved back across the couch, but before I could move into my place, a blue blur flew into it. Pietro undid Steph's hair then had it back into place in the blink of an eye.

"Show-offs," Steph said with a laugh. "Point taken, and thank you."

Natasha looked it over and nodded then said, "we train with it like that every day from now on. Darcy will teach you to do it for yourself, and you can practice."

Steph nodded her head in agreement, and I said, "okay, so the actual problem though is the disguise."

"Goggles," Tony said. "I'll make sure the strap can go under the hair."

"I don't really think I need a disguise," Steph said. "Unless you're going to make me wear it anytime we're in public, Steve. People will pretty quickly figure out that the woman who is my size and appears on the team at the same time as she starts going around you are the same person."

"Might as well put it off as long as possible," I said. "Plus, goggles are darn useful anyway; they protect your eyes."

"Unless someone shoots them," Bucky said, pout evident in his voice.

"I bought you new ones!" Natasha cried, throwing her hands in the air. "Once you were in your own mind again, that is. And need I remind you? You shot me _multiple times_!"

Bucky stroked her abdomen apologetically, and I just smiled, glad we didn't have to tiptoe around that kind of thing with Bucky anymore, worrying that it would send him into a dangerous flashback or break him in some way.

Clearly redirecting the conversation, just in case, Sam added, "and Tony can put an awesome display into them, Steph."

"Fine," Steph said. "I'll take them for now, and we can revisit the topic once my identity is discovered. Which will be ridiculously quickly."

"What about a name?" Vision reminded us.

Everyone seemed kind of stumped until Jane spoke up, "what about Joule?"

"Jewel?" Steph asked, clearly confused.

"J-O-U-L-E," Jane spelled it out for us then added, "you said that she absorbs and manipulates all types of energy, right? It's the International System of Units, or SI, base unit for energy… you measure energy in joules."


	23. Signing Up

**Chapter 23 - Signing Up**

 _ **Wanda's POV**_

The morning after Thor arrived, I woke early and moved out into the common area. I watched, quietly, as my teammates stumbled or bounced out of their rooms and filtered through the space. Although this group of people and I had gotten closer, and they'd gradually become less concerned that I was going to attack them mentally without warning, they still avoided me when I was sitting quietly in this manner.

Since I was thinking deeply, that was more than alright with me. I was concerned about Steph and her powers. Not with worry over her stability or that of her powers, but with how I could best assist her in developing them. I was certain we'd been lucky to have Skye and Lincoln available to help her for as long as we had, and that their time in our facility would be drawing to an end.

After a certain length of time having my powers, I'd become somewhat complacent. I knew what I could do after the battle with Ultron and in the weeks training since, and, for the most part, I did it instinctively. I no longer focused on what it felt like, but rather let the energies flow through me. This would not be helpful for Stephanie. She'd picked up a lot through mimicry, she'd needed to feel a ball of energy in her hand in order to form one the first time. And she'd needed to repeat that if it had been too long in between using that particular skill. So it stood to reason that what she couldn't feel for herself, she would be aided by having some idea of how it should feel.

Forty minutes after Steve came through, Steph stumbled her way into the kitchen to pour herself some coffee. When she had one of the over-sized mugs filled, she came back out and sat next to me on the couch. A silence filled the air that, although not awkward or socially uncomfortable, was still not particularly relaxing.

"Your mind is busy today," I said then, seeing Thor enter the room silently, I sent Steph a warning telepathically so she could censor her speech if she so decided. Out loud I continued, "what troubles you?"

"It's all just so overwhelming," she said after a pause.

"Hmm," I said only lightly skimming her emotions. For the most part, I figured it would be best for her to actually talk things through. "You know you won't actually go into the field until the team is convinced you've been properly trained."

"No one mentioned that," Steph said. "I find that to be a relief. When I started bounty hunting, and I went straight into the field, I almost died several times. I'd imagine that would be an almost certainty with Avenging."

"Why didn't you die?" I asked bluntly. Some conversations were suited for treading lightly, but this wasn't one of them.

"Ranger," Steph said. "He went into the field with me several times- He actually got shot with the gun he bought me on one of those trips."

I allowed a small smile to cross my face at that detail, but said, "it was because you had backup. When the time comes for you to go in the field with us as an Avenger, you will not be going alone. We are a team, and we take care of each other. You should know this- you've already been in the field with Steve, Bucky, and Natasha the night you met them. I read the file, Steve and Natasha went outside to wait with you, but Bucky was there in the shadows, making sure you didn't get injured helping."

Steph nodded her head. Then she asked, "what's the training like?"

"Well, I imagine our experiences there will be too different for me to be of much use to you. You are someone who was already relatively physically fit, and you've had some training in fighting before this. Before I joined the team, most of my time was spent locked away in a glass cage alone."

"You weren't with Pietro?" I could feel her register my sadness at the fact, and she reached over to squeeze my hand and offer me comfort.

"He was in his own cage next to mine. We spent a long time separated because they didn't want us talking or conspiring together. It was only when HYDRA feared that the Avengers knew our location that we were let out and allowed free contact with one another again. HYDRA focused on my mental manipulation, and that was all they trained me with, but they did leave me small objects that I could levitate. I practiced with those when I could. Now I do some exercise, and Natasha works with me on my fighting, but that will never be my way. What the others said is true, while you don't need to be in close quarters combat with your powers, you'll gravitate toward it."

"Do you think it's a mistake, something I need to train myself away from?"

I allowed myself to see the results of different answers I could give before I spoke. "No, I think it suits you. Imagine the way you used to fight and where your weaknesses were. Now imagine filling in those gaps with your new found gifts until they become strengths. You will become a very well-rounded member of the team, if you'll allow yourself."

"And time to get used to it and figure it out before I go into the field," she reiterated.

"Well, before you go into the field and are expected to use your new abilities, at least." I agreed, "Unless it is a possible extinction-level event, that is."

"Extinction level?" Steph squeaked out.

"Yes, those will probably be all-hands on deck," I said. "After all, that's how Pietro and I joined. They figured the benefits outweighed the risks with the whole of mankind on the line."

"Well, that's not terribly reassuring," she whispered.

With a shrug, I added, "I'm sorry for that, but it is true. The world is a dangerous place and it seems it is becoming increasingly so."

"I know," Steph conceded with a sigh. Ever so quietly, she said, "I don't like killing people."

"You are far from alone in that sentiment. You'll find that no one on this team does, really. That's one of the things that makes us different from those we fight. But we're all willing to accept that sometimes it is necessary, and you will need to as well."

"Yes, it's a call I've had to make before, but I would prefer not to use lethal force if _possible_."

Her emphasis on the last word was almost palpable, and I nodded my head in agreement.

Thor moved forward and spoke for the first time since entering the space. "It is true that we have all of us killed in battle, but as Wanda has said, it is out of necessity. And we all feel the weight of that decision when it is made. That is important, life is something to be cherished and not thrown away without dire need."

The two studied each other, and you could feel yesterday's tension melt away even more. Addressing Thor, Steph said, "but you said it yourself, I was made to be a weapon. That's all I am now."

"That is not _all_ you are," Thor said. "Even if it were, a weapon is but a tool. It can be used to lethal ends, that is true. But with precision, it can be much more, _if so desired_. It takes practice, discipline, and intent, and it _is_ difficult. I have a feeling you are more than capable of handling this, however, if for no other reason than because you will respect the power that you have been given."

Steph studied him for another minute before slowly smiling and nodding her head. Then she turned to me, deliberately examined my clothes, and proposed, "gym?"

"I see you've figured out the team schedule already," I responded while standing.

Usually, I walked, but today, as we approached the gym, I levitated myself off the ground. Thor had decided to join me, and his sideways glance and small smile told me he knew exactly what I was doing.

Steph gasped and then eyed me speculatively as we walked into the gym. Others who were in the space looked over, then went back to what they were doing as they'd seen this trick from me before. Watching her face to make sure she was okay with it, I reached out a hand and slowly used my energy to lift Steph off the ground.

As soon as I set her down, I said, "now, you."

Steph snorted out a laugh, but nevertheless I saw the blue light enter her eyes. A couple moments, and several surreptitious looks our way from each person occupying the gym, later, Steph shook her head and said, "no, sorry. I don't think I can do that one."

"I watched the video of your first training session," Thor boomed. "Do you mind if I try something?"

"Go ahead," Steph said, ending on a screech as Thor picked her up and threw her clear across the room toward the open padded area that Natasha and Clint tended to use for their bizarre take on yoga.

Steve yelled and Pietro blurred into motion, but Steph didn't need it. She caught herself, blue glow encasing her and keeping her from hitting the wall or the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Steph yelled at Thor from where she was floating.

The god simply shrugged and said, "you seem to learn best when you are not given the opportunity to overthink the situation."

Darcy, who had been walking on the treadmill, stormed out while shaking her fist at Thor and grumbling something about telling Jane her boyfriend was insane. Steve was clearly upset and ran over to Steph to make sure she wasn't injured despite her reassurances. Everyone else, myself included, was grinning to various degrees.

Thor was right about Steph. She looked a little shaky as she floated next to Steve, and when she landed, it was not gracefully. It was more like she just gently dropped her body flat on the ground before standing up. Still, the Captain just reached a hand down to her and helped her to her feet before giving her a slight shove toward the treadmills with a whisper I couldn't hear.

As I stepped onto the treadmill next to her, Steph said, "that was handy, but I'm pretty sure I can only catch and stop myself. I don't think I can fly around or anything like that."

"We'll see," I said. "I'm not sure either. It would be worth discussing with Daniel the next time you work with him as well, perhaps you can achieve something similar through learning to manipulate that life energy."

Steph looked over at me thoughtfully and nodded her head. We each jogged for a few minutes in silence before she asked, "Did you know what my name was going to be?"

"No, there were many possibilities, but the one you chose was one of the most likely," I informed her.

"What were the others?"

"Why does it matter? I will say that the one you have agreed to was my favorite of the options because it is so scientific. I know what you're thinking, you're not a scientist, and it's true. But there's this little girl all the way over in California who doesn't know what a joule is. Sometime down the road, she's going to see you, hear your name, and wonder precisely that. She's going to figure it out for herself, and then she's going to want study it _because of you_. And she's not the only one." I couldn't help the smile that broke out on my face. "It's one thing for us to inspire the children who are more physically inclined, but women are outnumbered in many fields besides just security and espionage. Isn't it nice to know you could drive them to something more? You'll inspire a generation of female protectors _and_ problem solvers."

Steph just gaped at me and said, "all that from a name? I don't even understand half of what Jane said when she was explaining the name! Oh God, I'm going to have to learn physics now, aren't I?"

I giggled and said, "I hardly think that will be necessary, though it couldn't hurt. Doing so might help you better understand your abilities. Simply having the name and putting your powers on display will be enough to do the inspiring though."

 _ **Steph's POV**_

I ran for a few minutes more, trying to figure out if I was actually a good role model for young girls. Man did I wish I'd gotten better grades in school, all of the sudden. And maybe had fewer of my exploits written about in the Trenton newspapers. Because I had no doubt that when my identity was blown, and it would be much sooner than Steve thought, all of that would get dragged to the surface and splashed all over the news.

Before I could work up too much of a sweat, Steve was calling me over to where he was standing next to a woman in a navy uniform of the support staff, which was a lot like Rangeman uniforms, right down to the open carrying of a gun, but in blue instead of black.

As I walked up to them, Steve kept his rigid Captain America stance, so I figured this was the part where I started having to separate our private and professional lives together.

"Stephanie, this is Lucy Garner from legal. She's got some paperwork for you to sign."

"Hi Lucy," I said offering her my hand and taking the clipboard she was holding.

When I started flipping to the first of the flagged pages to put my initials on, Steve put his hand gently over mine and urged, "read it."

The first clause merely established payment for my time over the past two weeks, so I murmured, "this isn't necessary, Steve."

"That's the standard consultant fee, Steph," he argued. "And pretty much every one of your belongings was destroyed because you were helping us, so I really think you should take it."

I watched Lucy's eyes go bug-eyed, but I nodded my head and signed the page to start. "This says it's being electronically transferred, but there's nowhere for me to fill out my bank information," I said.

"I'm offended, Steph," Natasha called out. "And it's already been transferred, with the proper tax withholdings, so just sign the damn form!"

"I'm going to need a freaking accountant, aren't I?" I grumbled while signing the form.

Then I started reading through all the more detailed paperwork, which was somewhat similar to the Rangeman contracts. Still, there were very large differences as well due to the nature of the work. For instance, there was no such thing as a set schedule of shifts, so things were handled more flexibly than that. Because we were expected to be available to be called out at pretty much any time (though there were allowances made for vacations and leave), our schedules when we weren't actively in the field were much more flexible. But days we were on base, we _were_ expected to train.

There was an entire probationary period laid out where I would be labeled a recruit and remain such until both Steve and Natasha signed off on my training. Before such a time, any missions I went on or didn't go on would be at their discretion. As a recruit, I'd be making less, but the salary was outrageous anyway. No point in negotiating it though- every Avenger made the same amount of money. Even as a probationary Avenger, I outranked everyone who wasn't a team member on base, and for missions that I wasn't onsite, I would be providing support from headquarters. I would also have a more strict schedule as a recruit, not reaching the "train in the morning then do what you want" stage until I was a full team member.

There was also a section on protective gear and weaponry that I was pretty sure would put to shame any similar clause for members of a police force or private security company anywhere in the world. As did the vehicle section, as it included the use of not just cars/trucks/motorcycles while on duty, but the _requirement_ of learning to fly the Aven-Jet. Reading that, I turned to Steve and said, "no, seriously, you know what happens to vehicles I drive, right? I'm pretty sure the same will be true of flying as well. I don't think you want to start having to replace those at such a rate."

"It's a requirement that every member of the team be able to fly the jet in case something happens and they are the only one in the field capable of getting us all back."

"Such as?"

"Injuries or brain washing, just to name a few." Steve said, and when I paled he added, "and don't worry, even before you joined, the jet got trashed regularly. We always have at least one backup functional at all times for that reason."

"How do we afford that?" I asked.

"A variety of ways," Steve said. "Stark Industries no longer runs the Avengers Initiative, but they are still faithful donors. We have fundraisers, such as the gala that's coming up and we should talk about, that we use to find additional donors. Those are usually for either the Initiative or the various relief foundations we have. In addition, Natasha loves digging funds out of HYDRA every time we find and take down a base of operations. And that's not counting the funds that were siphoned off from SHIELD's fall and directed our way. We're very well funded, and invested. Don't worry about the money."

I nodded my head and kept reading through sections detailing the legal representation that the team would give me if needed. There was a lot of liability that the team took on on my behalf, and it detailed the agreements between the Avengers and the US and foreign governments throughout the world. While there was public outcry after the events in Sokovia, most governments had realized that if they were in such a situation they would need the Avengers, so they were willing to make the necessary concessions.

An entire two pages were included about communications equipment. Those I would be required to use on base, while on missions, and for my personal matters. All would be subject to monitoring, and evaluated regularly for security concerns. Naturally, that section was immediately followed by a long set of non-disclosure agreements. I would be provided with living quarters at the Upstate New York base, as well as all additional future bases developed, though I was not required to live onsite.

My jaw dropped when I got to one page, and I looked sideways at Steve and said, "sex pollen can't actually be a thing!"

His mouth twitched but he shrugged and said, "I've been told it's best not to question what in the world might be possible, and Natasha swears that is."

"Sounds like someone reads too much science fiction," I muttered but went ahead and put Steve's name down as the only one in the list of people authorized to assist me should such a situation arise.

Sex pollen segued into all things medically related including me designating a medical power of attorney again for the official team record. I had full benefits, and would be required to be cleared by medical after every mission, regardless of whether or not I even left the jet, as well as once a quarter. Quarterly screenings would include _thorough_ biometric scans. In addition, there were incentive payments and bonuses for every mission based on their duration and threat level. Any mission that resulted in permanent disability would guarantee me payment of an Avengers' salary for the rest of my life. If I died on a mission, there would be a significant payment made to a designated beneficiary, and I was waiving my rights for any additional lawsuits by said beneficiary.

Ah, yes, every good contract had a signing away your life clause.

Steve chuckled at that, and I realized I said it out loud. When I looked at him, he shrugged. "It's not a safe job; we've been over that."

I made a show of reading the rest of the contract, and I did to the best of my abilities, but the truth was legal jargon is boring, and I was going to sign it anyway. Finally making it to the last page, I signed my name on the dotted line, passed it to Steve to sign as the team's leader for such matters, watched as Lucy signed it as well. She murmured that she'd make sure a copy was sent to me immediately, thanked me for joining the team, and promptly left.

"So, how's it feel?" Steve asked.

I shrugged and said, "very… official." Casting him a look out of the corner of my eye, I whispered, "and a tad intimidating."

"Yeah," Steve said before reaching over and removing the badge I'd had clipped onto my pants pocket and slipping it into his pocket. "You won't be needing that anymore. FRIDAY has just sent an alert to everyone on base identifying you as Joule, our newest Avenger. They'll know who you are."

"Avenger recruit," I said. "Probationary."

"Yeah, Rookie!" Sam teased. Then he did a little fist pump and crowed, "not the lowest on the totem pole anymore!"

"You're all still probationary," Natasha said, indicating Wanda, Pietro, Rhodey, Sam, and myself. "So you're all at the same level on the totem pole."

Steve had his hand on my back and started guiding me out of the gym and down the hall to the big training room. When we got there, he walked us over to the large padded sparring area. Then he dropped his hand, stood several paces away and said, "alright, time to assess where you are with close quarters combat."

"Are you serious?" I squeaked out.

"Yes," Steve said patiently. Or, I supposed at the moment, he was more Captain America than Steve.

"So, it's 'welcome to the team, fight our leader'?"

"Would you rather fight Bucky or Natasha?" Steve asked. "Or maybe Thor?"

I gulped, and he said, "I'm in charge of the hand-to-hand training sign-off for the probationary team members and their training schedules. So you can fight one of them first if you want, but we'll be doing this anyway. Besides, Tank's bigger than me."

"Bigger, maybe." I muttered, "but I have a feeling he is much less skilled."

"Come on, Steph." Bucky urged, "We've already seen you in motion, and you're quite good for your size and background. Plus, you can use your powers now too, and no one expects you to win. We just want to see where we're starting."

"Alright," I said, stepping a couple paces further back from Steve before signaling that I was ready. Even expecting him to attack, I wasn't prepared. Cap was fast.

"Hell," I muttered as I rolled with the throw to end up on my feet so I could pop back up ready to fight. "how is it possible you move that fast?"

"Serum," Steve said with a smirk.

"Come on, your powers, Steph," Wanda called.

"You won't hurt me," Steve reassured before coming on the attack again.

This time when his arm came out to grab onto my, I threw up a small shield to stop it and block the hit and brought my leg up to kick him in the chest. Of course, it didn't knock him down, but it did throw him off balance enough for me to add a leg sweep that took him down to a knee long enough for me to put a hand on his shoulder and fling myself past him.

I turned, well aware that he was on the move. I was disappointed but not surprised to find him already further along in his counter attack than I expected, but I still managed to slide under his arm and throw him over my hip.

"Come on, Cap!" Bucky hollered. "You already knew she had that move."

Steve was grinning as he got back to his feet. This time he didn't attack me, just stood there on alert asking, "What would you do if I was one of your skips?"

"I would try to charm you into thinking I wasn't a threat, and then use a taser or stun gun," I said. Still, I shrugged and came at him with a punch that he easily blocked. I spun with the block and brought a leg up to kick him, only to again have him easily counter the move. But when he did, I rolled with it sticking a leg out and knocking him off balance.

"You gotta flip into that, Steve!" Natasha taunted.

When he came at me the next time, I knew someone like Natasha could probably cartwheel over him, but instead I just slid along the ground under him. Unfortunately, he seemed to be expecting that and easily pinned me.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, tapping him on the arm, "give."

He nodded and let me up, but immediately came on the attack again. I caught his arm but found myself in too close with no option other than to jam my elbow into his chest to try to create space, which he immediately used to knee me. I could do nothing more than admire his skill in that moment when it barely knocked the wind out of me instead of, you know, crushing my chest and killing me, which I figured he might full well be capable of.

When he came forward as though to kick me, I put my hands together and caught his foot, pushing it back, and punching him in the groin. That slowed him down finally… for about a second. I was still on retreat, so when he came at me, he got me from behind which I knew better than to let an assailant accomplish.

Still, I managed to do something with one arm, and I wasn't sure what it was, but it had Steve cursing and letting go of it and freeing me to put up a shield to slow us down as we went toward the wall. I altered our speed enough that I managed to jump, plant my feet on the wall, and kind of cartwheel offit. I didn't even know I could do that, and I could tell Steve was surprised too and I'd genuinely broken his hold. Then I landed behind him, put a knee to his back, and focused myself on creating a shield to hold him against the wall.

It was shaky, and I wasn't sure how long I would have managed to hold it, but still, Steve tapped the wall and called out, "give."

I dropped the shield and backed up, getting into a protective stance, but he just waved me off. "I think that's enough for now; that was very good, Steph." As he walked toward me, he gestured to the wall behind him and said, "did you know you could do that?"

"Ha!" I laughed and also pointed to the wall, "there is no part of that I knew I could do."

Once he was standing in front of me, I picked up the hand that he'd had on my arm and had started the whole sequence for me and examined it. There was a burn on it, and I winced before saying, "so much for me not hurting you."

"This," Steve held up his hand and waved it back and forth, "will be gone in about five minutes, maybe less, so don't worry about it. It was worth it to have you figure out that you could do that."

When I turned to walk with him back to the team, I was surprised to see Tony and Coulson's team there as well and to have everyone start clapping. "Oh stop it," I called out. "You know he was holding back."

"Cap holds back with everyone who isn't named Bucky, Thor, or Pietro," Sam said.

"Hey, I don't hold back on Natasha," Steve protested.

Natasha nodded her head proudly then said, "Steph, I'll be taking over your hand-to-hand training because we're similar in size. The moves I use make sense for when you're usually the smallest one in the fight. The guys know them, but they don't really have to use them. But when you spar, you spar with Steve, or Thor if he's around, until you have better control of your powers or we develop some sort of safe sparring gear for your opponents. They'll heal faster if you burn them, or whatever it is that was, than any of the rest of us will."

"Sounds like a good idea," I agreed.

"You need strength training," Steve said from next to me. "It can't just be about your moves; you need to put more behind every hit."

"Sure," I said. "That's fine, I only really recently started working with the guys at Rangeman on that type of stuff anyway. I'm much better than I was, but I'm sure I can get better."

"Over a thousand years of evolution," Lincoln said and I saw Thor nodding from where he was warily watching Skye and Lincoln. "You should be able to get significantly stronger, Steph. If you apply yourself and work at it."

I knew I looked surprised, but he just nodded to make it clear he was serious.

Phil stepped forward, "I'm sorry, I know we were hoping to be available to you for much longer, but we need to go look into a possible situation. You're stable, right? There haven't been any other incidents since the first day? Either way, we'll try to get back in a few days time to work with you further, but I just want to make sure. Otherwise we can try leaving Lincoln behind…"

"For the most part," I said.

"What exactly does that mean?" Skye asked.

"I may or may not have destroyed some lightbulbs," I muttered.

"And when was this?" she pressed.

I could feel Steve silently laughing next to me, so I elbowed him, hard. Then I grabbed onto Skye's arm and pulled her outside the training room and down the hall. Eventually I saw a conference room, so I pushed the door open, barely realizing that it actually did open for me and peeked my head in. No one was there, so I pulled her in and shut the door behind me.

"This is going to be good, isn't it?" Skye said excitedly.

"It was during sex," I said, nibbling on my thumb self-consciously. "Or more to the point, at the climax of it..."

Skye smiled broadly and laughed. "Cap's that good? I figured he would be, well done. Get it, girl!"

I made a strained noise and I said, "It's not every time, but usually at least once per session."

"Exactly how many times do you go each session?" Skye whispered.

"Ugh," I banged my head against the wall a couple times, "that's not the point! I'm not stable!"

"Relax!" Skye said. "It's fine. That's a time when you should be losing some control and if it's just lightbulbs, I'm not too worried. Just, you know, work with your powers more and you'll get better control all the time. And I think this place can afford a few new lightbulbs from time to time. If not, get Stark to make you new ones."

"I am so not explaining that one to Stark," I hissed. "And I'd hope this is just between us, right?"

"Coulson and Lincoln are going to ask what this was about, and I'm going to have to tell them. But I'll swear them to secrecy first and make sure it doesn't go down in any records."

"FRIDAY?" I asked.

"I seem to have lost the recording for the past one minute and thirty seconds," she intoned in response.

"Thanks!" I said.

"How'd you get her to agree to that without an Avenger's agreement?" Skye sounded impressed but also concerned.

"You didn't hear?"

"Hear what?"

"I'm an Avenger now, signed away my life and everything," I announced, a little shakily.

"That's fantastic!" Skye burst out and wrapped me in a hug. "You're probably scared out of your mind, but from what I just saw, you can definitely do it. As long as you believe in yourself, you'll be fine. It took me way too long to realize that. Don't try to fight who you are and the changes that have taken place inside of you since the Terrigenesis. Once you fully embrace your Inhuman side, you'll find a peace from which you can derive control and accomplish things of which you haven't yet dreamed. I don't know how long we'll be gone, so just do that for me, okay? Work on _that_ until we see you again."

"Okay," I agreed, then I pulled her into another firm hug. "Thank you for your help, and be careful out there. Don't be a stranger."


	24. My Girlfriend Kicks Ass

**Chapter 24 - My Girlfriend Kicks Ass**

 _ **Steve's POV**_

My girlfriend had officially signed on to be an Avenger. For some men, that would undoubtedly be a difficult fact to accept. And while it did make me nervous to think of Steph in some of the situations the team had been in, it also made me proud.

By signing on to the team, Steph had chosen to dedicate her life to helping those who were weaker and in need our our protection. If it was something I could take pride in about myself, how could I not give her the respect she deserved by doing the same for her?

Of course, that didn't mean I was going to be taking it easy on her or moving her through the probationary period any more quickly (or slowly for that matter) than anyone else simply because she was my girlfriend. If we needed her, she would still come in the field with either Natasha or I sticking close in the role of her S.O. That would require an extreme situation though.

As could have been expected, the first day of Steph's training was hard. We pushed her physically to see how far she could be pushed, and we also started drilling her with information and strategies. For her part, Steph confided in me her desire to "catch up" to at least Wanda and Pietro quickly, since they didn't have a military background either.

Each of the Avengers had a little symbol that was used to represent us. Often we'd use them on the outside of lockers, gear, etc. to designate to whom something belonged. In addition, we all had them in at least one place on our uniform. For me, it was my shield, and for Tony it had been an arc reactor. Black Widow's was a red hourglass, like her namesakes carried on their backs. Hawkeye got an arrow, while Thor got a hammer. Sam's symbol was a set of wings, and Rhodey had a grey representation of his helmet. For Scarlet Witch, we used a red pentagram at Tony's insistence, though Wanda didn't mind at all. Pietro had an adaptation of the talaria, a foot with wings coming out of the ankle.

Bucky had been difficult, but in the end, he'd asked me to come up with a more stylized version of a red star. I'd basically given it depth, and when possible, it was raised, not just flat on objects. He'd had Tony update the star on his metal arm to match. When I asked why he didn't go to something completely different, he told me it was the same reason he used the moniker The Winter Soldier. Despite the circumstances, his years spent in HYDRA's custody had shaped him the most of anything else he's gone through. Although there were many things he wished he hadn't done or didn't remember, he ultimately had to accept them and move on. It was a vital part of what made him a good Avenger.

I'd had a hand in drawing most of the symbols, so naturally, when I was waiting for the recruits to run laps, I'd started working on one for Steph. A little bit of research had revealed that "joule" was simply represented as a "J" in math, so that wasn't the way to go. Instead, I'd gone with Steph's energy. After several tries, I'd ended up with a fairly good (in my opinion) sketch of Steph's energy ball flying through the air. Then I went about making a simpler version that could easily be monochromatic and stamped on things. Tony had popped up out of nowhere when I finished, snapped a picture, and three hours later delivered Steph a stack of electronics each etched with the symbol.

By the time we made it to dinner, Steph was practically dead on her feet, but she still wanted to work on something. So she collaborated with FRIDAY to create a sort of personnel flash card game for herself, which she played through dinner and while we watched a movie with the team after. Thankfully, I was able to get her to shut off her mind with a massage, which turned into decidedly sexier things. After that, she's practically passed out from exhaustion.

Waking up the next morning at five to an empty bed that wasn't even warm from Steph sleeping on it was a shock. Rubbing my eyes I asked, "FRIDAY, where's Steph?"

"She's just outside in the common area, Captain," FRIDAY supplied.

Curious, I pulled on a pair of pants and wandered out with a yawn. When I reached the end of the hallway, I stopped to lean against the wall and just watch Steph as she worked. She'd clearly figured out that the large table tucked into the corner across the way could be used as a large holo-table. In front of her, she had projected schematics of the facility with various colors of overlays for the different utilities and less accessible spaces. A pot of coffee and mug were sitting just to her side, both clearly forgotten. If it hadn't been for the fact that she was already dressed in workout clothes with the small Glock 26 Natasha had given her holstered at the small of her back, I would have figured she'd just stumbled out of the room. After all, it was outrageously early for her to be awake.

I wasn't aware of how long I stood out there watching her work, but eventually, Bucky came up from behind me and shoved me forward grumbling at me to stop blocking the damn hallway. As I stumbled into the main open area, Steph turned to look over her shoulder and I got a rush of masculine pride when I saw her eyes glaze over a little at my shirtless state. Without really thinking, I stretched my back and brought a hand up to scratch my chest. Steph had a look on her face that made me think she was about to start drooling until she heard Bucky's chuckle.

Her face flushed red, and her jaw slammed shut before she stammered out, "good morning."

I couldn't help my own laugh as I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her from behind, setting my chin on the top of her head. Bucky walked over with me, but didn't say anything so I asked, "how long have you been at this?"

Steph relaxed back into me before saying, "just an hour or so."

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked.

"I slept just fine, but then I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep so here I am," Steph answered.

"Why this?" Bucky asked.

I felt Steph shrug inside my grasp before she responded, "You said that Avengers outrank everyone else here, right?"

"Yes," I agreed.

"The dream I had before I woke up was about you guys being called out, and it was something big so you took everyone but me." She paused as if trying to decide how to word the rest. "I know everyone here is well qualified, but in my dream the base got attacked and everyone was looking to me for direction."

"So you're studying up on the base layout, just in case," I murmured. "Hell, I'm sorry, Steph. We have defense protocols for pretty much every invasion scenario possible- every single one that Bucky and Natasha could come up with. They're on your schedule for today, but maybe I should have bumped it higher. I just figured we'd go through them all together with Jane and Darcy as well, and they needed yesterday to setup."

"It's fine," Steph said. "I'm not tired."

"I can tell," I murmured. "You forgot about your coffee."

"I have some questions," she said slowly.

Bucky had walked away to grab a mug, and when he came back picked up the pot, but made a disappointed sound when he realized it had gone cold. Still watching what she was doing, and clearly not thinking about it, Steph reached a hand out, put it on the bottom of the pot and a few seconds later it was steaming again. Surprised, I looked over at Bucky who was staring back at me with a look that clearly said, "did you know about that?"

I shook my head no in disbelief while idly wondering how long it would be before Steph's powers would cease to surprise me.

"Thanks, Steph." Bucky said, "that's hot enough."

Steph startled and looked over, eyes widening. "Well that's handy," she murmured.

"Because the rest of it hasn't been?" Bucky teased.

Steph just shrugged, "not really in the day to day."

I laughed then asked, "what questions do you have?"

"Where are we? All you've ever said was 'Upstate New York,' and I didn't figure it out on our date."

"You've only taken her out on one date, Punk? Is that any way to treat a lady?" Bucky chided me with a hard poke.

"Things have been a little crazy," Steph argued on my behalf.

"That's no excuse," Bucky and I replied at the same time. Then I answered her question with, "and we're on the outskirts of Burlington Flats, just a few minutes from Cooperstown."

"Baseball hall of fame," Steph said. With a grin, she added, "is this where I tell you I'm a fan of the Yankees and you dump me?"

My lips twitched and I said, "I think I can handle that." Then I muttered to Bucky, "I still can't believe _they_ fucking moved to LA."

"Okay," Steph continued. "Next question: are the air ducts here _reinforced_?"

"Nice catch, Doll," Bucky said. "Yes, they'll carry you for sure; pretty much anyone here other than Cap or Thor. Maybe one or two of our bigger security guys as well."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Nah, we can cover the rest when we go through scenarios," Steph responded, so I swung her over my shoulder.

Walking back in the direction of my room, I called to Bucky, "we're going to go for a quick jog then we'll see you in the gym."

Steph was wiggling while laughing and trying to free herself, so I just tightened my grip and said, "always protect your back; never let someone grab you from behind. Especially someone bigger and stronger than you."

"I'll have you know I could get out of this if I wanted to- I just don't want to hurt either of us in the process. Plus, you're my boyfriend, so you're supposed to have my back!"

Reaching our destination, I gently tossed her on the bed then went to grab a shirt to go with the sweats I was already wearing. "Come on," I urged. "I want to show you something."

"I thought we were going for a jog?"

"And I'll show you something while we're out on it."

"You know there's no possible way I can keep up with you, right?"

"Yes, and I promise I'm not going to make you try today."

"Just today?"

I gave her a grin and shrugged, and Steph groaned, "I hate running."

"I know, but you'll do it for me anyway," I said grabbing onto her hands and gently pulling her back out the door after she tied her shoes.

Steph grumbled some more, but it was mostly good natured, so I let her get away with it and pretended I couldn't hear as we made our way outside. Then I started out on my standard perimeter jog, waving to the various security workers and other employees we passed as we went. About three quarters of the way around, I pointed and nudged Steph down a deer trail into the woods.

We jogged along at a slower pace so Steph could be careful with her footing until we reached a small clearing. I said nothing as we stopped, just waited while Steph caught her breath then started wandering around. When she turned the corner and saw the small pond, I saw her quickly figure it out.

"When you said it was on the outskirts of the facility, you meant that it backs up to the facility!" Steph said, and I nodded my head, ducking my head down to look at my toes. "Are we here to make out some more? Because, I gotta tell you, we could have done that in your room."

That brought on a full-bellied laugh and I said, "no." Then, reassessing, I raised my eyebrows and said, "Well, I mean, we _could_ , but that isn't _why_ I brought you here. I wanted you to know where this is; it seemed like something I should tell my girlfriend who I love and is also my teammate."

I watched the final light bulb click on and Steph said, "you said that it was private property and implied that we would be left alone when we were here. And you knew that because you own this property personally."

"Technically a shell corporation completely separate from the Avengers owns it, but…" I trailed off as I nodded my head shyly and Steph giggled and launched herself at me. I easily caught her, but I allowed myself to drop backwards with her momentum and fall onto the overly tall grass behind me. She pushed me until I was laying all the way down then flattened herself against me and kissed me, which wasn't the reaction I had anticipated. I'd thought she'd ask me more questions, but I was happy to do things her way.

After a few minutes, I pulled back and said, "we're not having sex in the middle of the woods, Steph. Anyone could walk by."

"Yeah, but it's private property, so they'd be trespassing!"

"True," I said pressing one last kiss to her lips for the time being. "But that wouldn't necessarily stop them. And we have more work to do. You've asked to be on the accelerated program, after all."

Steph sighed but got up and reached out a hand to "help" me. Once I was up, she went behind me and dusted off my back, which turned out to just be a ploy to grab my ass. Not that I was complaining. Before she could try to get us both carried away again, I grabbed her hand and pulled her to my side so we could jog back.

"Which came first? The facility or your property?" she huffed out.

"The facility. I keep an eye on the surrounding properties, and we've actually encouraged several of the owners of surrounding land to leave and grown the space that way. But when this one popped up with the small lake, I kept it for myself. Figured if I wanted to have a life while still leading the team, it might come in handy. I'm thinking about building a house on it, and hooking it into the monitoring of the base to some degree. Maybe just having an alarm that would register with FRIDAY. I don't quite know yet. Or maybe I'll just sell it to the team after all." I shrugged, but could see a smile on Steph's face as she contemplated that information.

Finally she settled on, "thanks for showing it to me and letting me in on the secret."

Only a few minutes later, we made it back to the facility. As we approached I murmured, "Bucky's not going to like that holster, just be ready for that. He can be a little coarse about some things, and your personal safety is likely to be one of them."

"It's comfortable," Steph protested. "And at least I was armed. He was walking around all unarmed; so were you for that matter."

I laughed and said, "I put my gun on before we left the living quarters because I didn't take my shield. And Bucky was not unarmed. I can't remember the last time I saw Bucky unarmed- it had to have been before he left for the army. He just looked unarmed compared to when he goes into combat."

"What do you mean?"

"He goes into _any_ combat carrying at least four guns, three knives including his favorite combat knife, and some grenades."

Steph tripped and I caught her even as she said, "holy hell. That has to be overkill."

"Not really," I said. "And that's why he's the team's weapon's expert. Hawkeye's a better sniper, and that bow is damn useful. By the way, if you tell Bucky I said that, I'll deny it. But Bucky's the best all-around at using weapons and I can guarantee you he's going to have an issue with the small of back holster."

"At least I wore it," she said stubbornly.

I didn't say anything else as we walked inside together and headed straight to the gym. As soon as we cleared the doors, Bucky was waiting and threw something at Steph. She caught it and I laughed when I saw the thigh holster, but I didn't say anything.

"Nobody likes a know-it-all, Steve," she muttered.

Holding my hands up in surrender I said, "I didn't say anything."

Dismissing me, I watched as Steph turned to Bucky and said, "why? This is more comfortable, and I hate guns. Shouldn't you just be happy that I'm wearing the gun."

Bucky just stood there with his arms crossed and said, "draw on me." Steph did, more quickly than I thought she would, but still not all that smoothly. Bucky just nodded and said, "too slow. And do it again without ever pointing the gun at yourself in the process."

I watched from a distance, hiding my chuckle as Steph tried several times before throwing the small of back holster onto the ground in frustration and strapping on the thigh holster. "I hate this thing," she muttered.

Bucky just shrugged and said, "wear it until you get used to it. And I know Natasha gave you that gun, but we'll be having a session this afternoon on the firing range and you will try every gun I give you until I figure out which one works best for you."

"Any chance that is going to be no gun?"

"Any chance you think you're never going to get shot at again?" Bucky retorted.

"Fine."

Because they were done, I got Steph's attention and quickly dictated her morning's workout for her before moving onto my own. The morning was spent with what would become our routine of workouts and fight training. Then we transitioned into a working lunch meeting with the team, Darcy, and Jane.

When I walked into the room, Steph was already there, but other than that, the room was empty.

"You want to know what is still bothering me?" she asked without looking up from her tablet.

Taking the seat next to her, I draped an arm over her shoulder so I could look at what she was working on. She had a search program up showing reports of fires in New Jersey the week after we'd met, and I sighed, "me too."

"Want to go on a drive through the larger Trenton area sometime soon? If they haven't burned down wherever they took me, it might mean that it's still a functional base."

Natasha was walking in and said, "or, more likely it is linked to one of your kidnappers personally, and he didn't have permission to use that place. And he was too foolish to destroy it- or he worried that it would draw attention to himself. My guess would be Dorsey since he hasn't been seen since yesterday's meeting."

"The meeting we didn't get video of," Steph grumbled.

"If you think about it," I said. "It would have been a bit crazy for Big Dog and Carl to show up at a full HYDRA base dressed so identifiably as cops- and they would have been if they'd worn their uniforms."

"I wish I'd gotten the cameras on something else then," Steph said.

I pressed a kiss to her forehead and said, "you did well. We'll find them."

An alert popped up on Steph's tablet that indicated FRIDAY had been paying attention. Gesturing to the tablet after we had read the attached article, I took it from her when she nodded. I slid the tablet across the table to Natasha as Bucky walked in, sitting next to her and reading it over her shoulder.

Dorsey had been reported dead earlier in the day, after being found at his burned down farmhouse, just outside of Trenton. It seemed as though he'd fallen asleep on the couch with a lit cigarette.

"FRIDAY, show us satellite images of the property," I commanded.

Natasha slid the tablet back to Steph who flipped through the images several times before saying, "that's the place."

"Makes sense," Bucky offered. "Dorsey failed to bring you down, and they had to show that failure wasn't allowed. They also haven't eliminated you yet, so they had to make sure no one could place you there if you did decide to file a report. Now you could go into the station, say you were kidnapped and held by Dorsey and it would just be you against the reputation of a recently dead cop."

"And no one would believe me," Steph agreed.

I allowed a slight pause before I said, "some might, but probably not enough of them."

Steph just nodded her head glumly and we were interrupted by Jane and Darcy entering. As such, Steph put her tablet away, and I walked over to gather the binders I'd had made to go along with digital copies of our emergency plans that FRIDAY would provide everyone.

For the next two hours, we ate and went through every scenario, multiple times. Before we could dismiss Jane and Darcy, Steph cut in.

"I don't want to speak out of turn here," She paused, and I gestured for her to speak. "I know that these are the scenarios the team came up with, but by the time you moved in here and started on this, Tony and Bruce were already pretty much gone, right?"

I nodded and said, "this was an old warehouse for Stark Industries. Tony turned it over to us officially, and helped us integrate FRIDAY after we designed and renovated it, but that's about it."

"Right," she said nodding. "Did you ask how he'd get in?"

"No…" I said.

"Jane," Steph asked. "If you had to break into a place like this, how would you do it?"

Before she could answer, Darcy raised her hand and excitedly blurted out, "ooooh! We could use portals or those teleportation thingies we used on the Dark Elves!"

"That's not what they're called, Darcy," Jane started.

Knowing that we were about to get a science lecture that would mostly go over our heads, I smoothly cut in. "That's a good point, Steph. Jane and Darcy, can you try to think up some scientific and more outside the box scenarios for us? Get them to us when you can, but… obviously the sooner the better on those."

"You guys seriously didn't think of portals?" Darcy snorted out. "Isn't that how Loki got the Tesseract in the first place?"

"How do you know that?" Clint asked in exasperation.

Darcy just made a gesture saying her lips were sealed, and I sighed, accepting the fact that Darcy was good at getting information out of people she shouldn't have but at least was fiercely loyal and now living with the team.

As the two women made their way out of the room, I leaned over and whispered in Steph's ear, "that really was good thinking. Anything else you think we're missing?"

"No," she whispered back, "but if I come up with something, I'll let you know."

"I would certainly hope so," Natasha snorted out from across the table.

"Are you feeling more comfortable with the facilities and procedures now?" I asked.

Steph just nodded her head as she started going through the folder again from the beginning. Gently I reached over and closed the folder on her saying, "you should take a break before you work on this some more. Why don't we find somewhere quiet and you can work on that scar again?"

I gently tapped on her leg where the scar lay, knowing exactly where that spot was. Already, I felt as though I knew her body better than my own.

"You don't have to sit with me while I do," she murmured. "If you have something more interesting or pressing to do. I'm sure I can find a quiet corner on my own."

Natasha stood and said, "come on, Steph. I'll show you my studio, and you can work there while I do some relaxation of my own. Steve's right, you don't want to overload on this stuff all at once. And as far as I know, he and Bucky haven't gotten in a good three-way spar with Thor yet since he got back."

I gave Steph a quick kiss and allowed Natasha to lead her away, knowing that Natasha's unspoken order was right. I needed to spend some time with Thor and make sure we were okay after putting Steph before him when he arrived and going against his concern over her.


	25. Genetics

**Chapter 25 - Genetics**

 _ **Natasha's POV**_

"Do you want some shorts so you can see your leg?" I asked Steph.

"That's alright," she said with a smile in my direction. "I can just roll the leg up."

"Well, I need to change," I said. "If you don't mind the quick stop, so you'll have the time if you'd like."

"Sure I'll probably do that then," Steph responded. "I just didn't want to slow you down."

"You should prioritize your own comfort sometimes," I told her. "Especially for the task at hand, I would think. Come down to my room when you're done changing, I could use some help with something quickly if you're willing to lend a hand."

We broke apart in the common area, as I was down a different hallway from Steve, but it was only a few minutes later that Steph was knocking on my door. When she walked in, I studied the yoga capris she'd put on and was grateful to see that she had affixed her gun to her right leg again. Nodding toward it, I said, "I know you aren't comfortable with that holster location yet, but it's a very short draw distance. And remember, we did design your uniform to have it there anyway. It would be best to wear it there all the time until it feels like part of you. Now tell me what your hesitation is with guns."

"Well, I've been shot, and that's no fun," she deflected. Then she sighed as she looked around my room and said, "They're lethal, and I really don't like killing people."

I studied her for a moment and pressed, "you expect me to judge you for that. To think you're weak because you'd rather not kill." Her silence was answer enough, so I told her, "I don't; in fact, I admire it. I've done a lot of bad over the course of my life, Steph. Now I'm trying to do good, but sometimes it requires that you take a life of someone in order to save the innocent. When we train, we can focus on things that are intended only to incapacitate in addition to more lethal tactics because I think you understand that and doing so won't cause you to hesitate."

"Thank you. I promise not to be stupid about it. If I need to go lethal, I will."

"That's all any of us ask."

Steph looked around the room and said, "you don't have much stuff."

Barking out a laugh I replied, "really, you of all people are saying that to me, Steph?"

Her lips twitched and she said, "the clothes for me that are in Steve's room… he said you provided them. Are they yours? Do you need them back?"

"I ordered them for you," I told her. "And I actually do have a little more stuff than this, that's actually why I asked for a few minutes of help. Do you mind helping me pack up the last of my stuff? I'm moving into Bucky's room."

Steph made a surprised sound before she said, "not at all, I'm happy to help. Do you have any boxes? Where do you want me?"

We spent the next twenty minutes boxing up the last of my stuff, then we switched into carting it through the space. I waited until we were almost done and there was a box filled with a few valuables before I made my move. Pretending to stumble while carrying another box, I knocked over the fragile one from a spot at the top of a tall stack. My gasp had Steph whirling around and catching the box with her energy before floating it back into position.

She studied me, and I was pleased to realize I'd been made. "You've never stumbled once since I've known you, and I doubt you'd do it around prized possessions. I don't think you've started now."

I shrugged and said, "doesn't what you just did make you think you're more than likely to be able to move yourself in a similar manner?"

"Not really, actually. When Wanda mentioned working with Daniel on it, that actually instinctively felt like it might work. Anything else just doesn't feel right, if that makes any sense."

"Well, then," I replied. "Let's go work on that scar of yours."

Together we walked toward my studio, and I waited until we were inside, where FRIDAY had some of her strictest security protocols in place to speak again.

"What do you know of the Red Room?" I asked.

"Not a lot," Steph replied. "From what I've been able to put together through context, it is where you were trained from a very young age… possibly brainwashed in some way?"

I nodded and said, "that's pretty much enough. They took young, pretty girls and forced them to train. We were made into weapons and had no choice in the matter. If you weren't good enough, they killed you. If you were good, they trained you more and more before graduating you with a sterilization ceremony and sending you out on missions like the weapon you were. And I was the best. They used pretty girls because they hoped they'd become beautiful women and one of their preferred methods was luring their targets with a tempting face."

Steph made a strangled noise, but didn't look at me with pity, which was a relief. Instead, she gave me a look that told me she thought she understood me a little better. As she did, I moved into the center of the room and drew myself _en pointe_. I called out a song to FRIDAY and settled back onto the flats of my feet to warm up as I explained to Steph, "Most of the training, I shook. Or at least the parts that involved them messing with my head and turning me inside out until I didn't know who I was anymore. I can still pull off most assassinations with my eyes closed if I need to for some reason, and I still find the ballet that was part of my training for a particular mission to be soothing. This is what I do to meditate. Will the music distract you?"

It was playing faintly, and Steph's eyes met mine as she shook her head. Then, she walked over to the cut out corner where there was a picture window with a comfortable cushion. She settled onto it and watched for a few minutes longer. Once I moved into my more intricate moves, I noticed her rolling up her pants leg. She settled into a cross legged position, and closed her eyes.

For an hour and a half, we worked like that, independently but still taking comfort in the other's presence. When I stopped, FRIDAY cut the music, and Steph immediately opened her eyes. I observed as Steph inspected her knee and then gave a satisfied nod. "It isn't gone, but I think it is a little fainter."

"FRIDAY?" I asked.

"The scar on Joule's right knee is approximately 18% lighter than it was when she started the session."

That made Steph's grin widen and I cocked my head to the side as I asked, "are you excited because it worked? Or was that the first time someone called you that?"

"Both," was her instant reply. Then she gestured to where I'd been dancing and asked, "if it won't ruin it, is there anything that you can teach me that would help my fighting?"

I could tell she was nervous when I didn't say anything immediately, but she stammered on, "when Steve was testing me the other day, he pinned me when I tried to slide under him. I feel like if I knew that sort of thing, I would have been better off trying to cartwheel or flip over him?"

"You would have," I agreed with a wide smile. Then I gestured her over and said, "let's get started."

An hour later, I looked over to see Steph covered in a slight sheen of sweat but smiling as FRIDAY interrupted us, "Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes are inquiring about your whereabouts."

Grinning at Steph, I said, "what do you say we call it a day?"

She nodded her head before whispering, "thanks for sharing this with me."

"It is nice to have someone who wants me to share it," I replied honestly. As we walked back I said, "you know you're entitled to your own room, right? If you don't want to be sharing with Steve, you can ask for your own space. It would be perfectly reasonable."

"It would be."

"But?"

She shrugged, but couldn't hide her smile, "I like where I am now, and Steve doesn't seem to mind."

Laughing I said, "I'm sure he doesn't mind; you're good for him, you know?"

"He's good for me."

 _ **Bucky's POV**_

Steve was apprehensive as we walked toward the gym, and Thor was not as jovial as he usually would be in the lead up to a sparring session. As much as I enjoyed having Steph around and was glad to have her on the team, I was worried that these sparring sessions that involved talking about our feelings were going to be a regular thing now. Because there was no doubt in my mind that was where we were about to go.

When we had these sparring sessions, there were no teams. It wasn't Steve and I against Thor or anything of the like. No, during these sessions, it was every man for himself and no holding back. We moved about, warming up a little before the fighting started. Frustratingly, neither man addressed the elephant in the room for the first hour of fighting.

I moved into an offensive series against Thor, and waited until Steve moved in to take advantage of the situation before I said, "the first time we met Steph, she helped Steve because she believes in what Captain America stands for and what the Avengers do."

Then, I took advantage of Steve's concentration being on Thor to move over to assault him as I said, "Thor wants Jane to be safe, and although she's brilliant and can do frightening things with science, she's not all that physically capable of looking after herself in a fight. He wants her with people he knows will help her, and he doesn't know Steph yet."

Both men turned on me, but at least started communicating with each other as they did.

"I have read Lady Stephanie's file, and I have no quarrel with her. In addition, I have begun to get to know her, and I believe she will use her powers with the respect and restraint they are due. She will not seek to use them to her own advantage, but rather to help the people of this realm."

"Steph and I will both protect Jane and Darcy," Steve grunted out as he dodged a kick I aimed at his chest. "And I apologize for standing between the two of you, but you are stronger than she is and I wanted to make sure you listened first."

We resumed fighting for several more minutes before Thor yelled, "you drew your weapon on me!"

At that, Steve dropped his guard and allowed Thor to land a punch that looked like it hurt. But eventually he shook it off and offered his hand, "for that, I sincerely apologize, and I assure you I meant only to use it in defense."

Thor stared at the proffered hand for a moment then broke out in a grin before taking it. "It is forgiven, my brother."

Steve looked relieved, then offered the hint, "really, I'd suggest you call her 'Steph' over 'Lady Stephanie.' Or 'Joule', if you'd rather as we'll all need to adjust to calling her that."

Thor nodded in understanding. Of course, Thor being Thor, that didn't mean the sparring was over. Rather, he let out a ferocious "FOR ASGARD!" and then began fighting with renewed fervor.

Steve stifled a laugh before resuming the match. After several more minutes, I said, "there's something else."

Steve and Thor merely grunted to show they were listening, and I directed my words more at Steve as I said, "Steph expressed confusion on multiple occasions about how her Inhuman powers could be genetic as she didn't feel either of her parents had anything like that in them. Now as we understand it, Inhumans are indistinguishable for the most part before transformation, so it could have been that. It turns out, however, that she's right." Luckily for Steve, Thor immediately noticed his distraction and pulled up a punch that had a lot of power behind it. In explanation, I told Thor in a teasing tone, "they're in love, so he's always worried about her. It isn't just sex."

Thor somehow managed to smile even more broadly as he clapped Steve on the shoulder, "this is joyous news, Captain!"

Steve just nodded his head absently and asked impatiently, "what do you mean, Buck?"

I cleared my throat as I said, "her instincts have been so spot on about everything, so I looked into it. It was a difficult task because things weren't on the computer then and the hospital hasn't digitized all their records for even the past decade yet, let alone thirty something years ago." Steve made an impatient hand gesture and I stepped fully out of the sparring area to demonstrate that I was done as I explained further. "Helen and Frank Plum have a daughter who was born naturally to them, though less than nine months after they were married, I might add, named Valerie. She's Steph's sister. However, their second child was stillborn at full term."

Thor looked confused, though I knew he had what was basically a system of internal, magical translation called All-Speak. "I do not understand; I thought that term referred to a child who was born already deceased?"

I nodded my head and replied, "no, you understand correctly. Steph's parents are not her biological parents."

"Then where did she come from?" Steve asked, clearly alarmed.

"That's what's been taking so long," I told him. "From what I've been able to tell, there was another couple who arrived at the hospital on the same day and gave false names for themselves. Those identities had only been used once before to buy tickets to fly from China to New York. Then they checked into the hospital five weeks later, where the woman gave birth to a healthy, live daughter with brown hair and blue eyes. There was one more hit on their names as they bought tickets on a cross-country bus tour for two adults- no mention of an infant. That's it, nothing more, and no reports of any deadly bus accidents or anything like that in the target company's route that year."

Thor shifted uncomfortably before he said, "From my experience with my brother, Loki, I would caution you, Steven, that this is not the kind of news you would do well to keep to yourself now that you know it."

"She's nothing like Loki," Steve replied. But then he acquiesced, "but you're right. I need to figure out how to tell her… tonight. And then we're going to have to figure out how to get her and I to her parents' house for dinner tomorrow night otherwise she's going to go alone."

"We'll tell her together," I reassured him. "I'll explain, since I'm the one who did the looking all on my own. And we'll have Natasha disguise you again like she did that first night. Then we'll send you both in bugged and find somewhere nearby to be backup, just in case. I'll work out the logistics with Natasha and Ranger while you help Steph deal with it."

"Her file contained transcripts of messages left on her telephone from her mother, supplied by Natasha," Thor said. The look on his face clearly showed what he thought of the way Steph's mother spoke to her. "Do you think Steph will take this news badly?"

"I don't know," Steve replied honestly. "I think the part with her mother will be a relief, though I'm sure the woman will be a pill when confronted. Otherwise, Steph's reaction will depend on how her father and her grandmother react."

Looking between the two men, I asked, "are we good here?"

Both nodded enthusiastically so I turned for the door, calling out, "who was our winner, FRIDAY?"

"You were, Sergeant," she said and I raised my metal fist in victory as I walked out the door.

Once we made it back to the rooms, and didn't see Natasha or Steph in sight, we went our separate ways to clean up. When I pushed open the door to my rooms, I was brought up short by the sight of the sheer volume of stuff inside. It wasn't that Natasha had a lot of belongings, rather I had barely any. The room had been so empty for so long, and I'd figured that I'd be moving my belongings to Natasha's space. Just because I had fewer things to move.

I would readily admit, however, that I was glad this wasn't the case. Simply put, I felt most comfortable having Steve across the hall from me. A part of me wondered if I'd ever not trust Steve just a little bit more than I did anyone else in the world. Natasha was a close second, but the rest of our teammates were a distinct step below that level. This is what I pondered while I showered and shaved for the night.

Perhaps it was normal. Everyone probably had a person that they were closest to and trusted the most if you asked them. For Steph, it was undoubtedly Steve, and after that, it was probably Wanda, actually. Wanda, who would be at the bottom of everyone else's list other than Pietro's and maybe Vision's. Obviously, Wanda and Pietro each trusted each other the most, and I thought Steph might have actually found her way into second place on the list, ahead of Vision, already. I didn't have any clue how to consider Vision in this. Perhaps his was Thor, as I was pretty sure Thor trusted Vision the most because he was worthy of wielding Mjolnir. Sam's would be Steve, and, in Tony's absence, I thought Rhodey's probably was too.

Within the team, Clint would choose Natasha- that was obvious from the fact that only she knew of Clint's sister, niece, and nephew until he's had no other choice than to accept the rest. Natasha was tricky. She and I slept together, and we were in love, so it might be me that she trusted most. On the other hand, Clint had brought her out of her old life and provided her an opportunity she had only dreamed of until she found it in front of her. As partners, they'd saved each others' lives enough times that each would walk through fire for the other. But she and Steve had uncovered the HYDRA infiltration within SHIELD together, and they'd brought it down together (with Sam's help). That wasn't something you made it through without coming out the other side completely as a team as well.

No matter how you sliced it, Steve had the most of the team's trust, as well as, I was certain, their undying loyalty. Which fit the fact that I was certain he trusted everyone on the team fully. The Winter Soldier side of me cringed at the thought, but the Bucky side of me just accepted it. That was the same Steve I'd always known, and probably that was what made it good that he was the leader.

When I finally made it out to the living room, Steve and Thor were once again talking of Steph. This time, however, it seemed Thor was questioning what she'd been able to do, with the idea of offering assistance if he could.

Steve finished an explanation of Daniel Rand, Steph trying to learn to heal herself, and how Daniel had told Steph he'd work with her again when she made her scar completely disappear by saying, "I'm surprised Natasha has let her drill on that for this long though. It's probably too long for her to focus on that, she says it is extremely difficult, and she'll no doubt get frustrated by it, even if she does make progress."

"They moved Natasha's things into my room first; it probably took them twenty to thirty minutes," I informed him. Then with a nudge as I sat next to him, I said, "are you going to ask Steph if she wants to keep living with you or just not say anything?"

"Not say anything," he retorted shamelessly. "I'm fairly certain she'd tell me if she didn't want to, especially now that she knows Natasha's room is empty. But if I ask, she'll think it's because I want her to leave but am too nice to say anything."

Slowly the rest of the team filtered in, except for Steph and Natasha. Finally, Steve told them we had news to break to Steph, and it would be best not to do so in the cafeteria, so Sam went about asking the kitchen staff to make us heroic amounts of pizza while Steve sent a message along to FRIDAY.

Twenty minutes later, Steph and Natasha wandered in behind carts of pizza and both dashed off for a quick shower and change before dinner. Steve kept staring at Steph and wincing or frowning while we all ate, until Steph finally asked, "what? Are you sending me to Asgardian prison with Thor after all?"

Thor looked surprised that Steph would still think that was on the table, but I shook my head to keep him from leading the conversation in that direction. Instead, I caught Steph's eye and said, "no, I have something to tell you, and the punk is nervous about how you're going to take it. You should know I acted alone in finding out this information, and I didn't tell Steve about it until the end of our sparring session. He insisted that we tell you tonight, and he thought it best that everyone find out at the same time, even though it is personal."

Steph frowned but nodded her understanding and grabbed onto Steve's hand as she braced herself asking, "is someone else HYDRA?"

"Probably," I said bluntly. "This is something different though. When you found out that being Inhuman was genetic, you mentioned being surprised about that aspect because you didn't think either of your parents were. I knew that could have been just because they never transitioned, but it seemed to be worth a follow up, so I took it upon myself to do so."

I could just barely hear Sam take a deep breath, and I glanced over at him. His eyes told me just to break it to her fast so I said, "what I found is that your parents aren't your biological parents."

There was absolute silence, and I couldn't tell what Steph was thinking. Finally, she said, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Your sister, Valerie, is a product of both your parents, but their second daughter was stillborn. Another couple had a daughter born that same day in the same hospital, one with brown hair and blue eyes. That child was born in perfect health, and when the couple left Trenton, they didn't have the baby with them."

"And you think I was that other couple's baby. That my parents' daughter was dead when she was born so they- took me as a replacement?"

"I'm not sure of the motives of anyone involved, but, yes, I think that's it generally."

Steph sat there in silence once more before blurting out, "I'm sorry, what?!"

Steve leaned over and murmured quietly in her ear, and not wanting to accidentally eavesdrop, I took that time to let Natasha know that we needed to arrange a disguise for Steve again the next day. Steve and Steph exchanged a few more whispers on the couch before standing in unison with Steve quickly making their excuses.

Wanting to end on a potentially more positive note, I queried as they left, "Steph, how's the scar?"

"Eighteen percent lighter!" she announced triumphantly.

"That is well done, Joule," Thor boomed, "congratulations!"

Everyone else offered similar reactions, and we waited until I could hear the click of Steve's door to speak again.

Sam let out a low whistle, "making jokes about thinking you're not actually part of the family, and finding out it is true are two very different things."

"Did you find her parents?" Rhodey asked before clarifying, "I mean biological parents."

I shook my head and said, "Steve's expecting her to want to go to Trenton to confront them tomorrow evening at dinner."

"Then we'll make sure we're ready for whatever happens," Wanda said resolutely, more command in her voice than I'd ever heard before.


	26. Dinner with the Plums

**Chapter 26 - Dinner with the Plums**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

"Steve," I said wearily as he shut his bedroom door behind us.

"Yeah?" He asked running a soothing hand up and down my back.

"I know you're big on the whole not taking advantage thing, but I love you and I'd have sex with you pretty much anytime at the drop of a hat. So if I say that all I really want right now is to not think for the rest of the night, would you-"

I was cut off by Steve's mouth slamming into mine, and I let out a sigh of relief. Apparently fully willing to be my distraction, Steve took advantage of my mouth opening in response to dip his tongue into my mouth. It swirled around and played with mine briefly. When he pulled back, it was only for long enough to pull my shirt and sports bra off over my head before diving back in.

Then he picked me up and sat down on the bed with me in his lap, legs draped over either side of him. With both hands on my backside, he urged me up onto my knees so that he could drag his mouth from mine, down my neck and nibble a little before drifting the rest of the way to my breasts. While he was occupied with them, I rocked my pelvis against his torso to get some pressure where I wanted it.

Eventually he switched from using both his hands and mouth on my breast to using just his mouth and moved his hands down my sides onto my hips. Once there, I could feel them tugging my pants and panties off and down to my knees. His hands were huge, so he could cup my backside while using his fingers to toy with me between my legs.

A frustrated noise rang through the room, that had to have come from me after several minutes of the teasing because Steve just made a noise of agreement then pulled me into him until my knees were off the bed. He carefully rolled us over so he was on top of me with my legs dangling over the side of the bed. Momentarily satisfied with the position, he moved down so that he could reach with his hands to shove my clothes past my knees. Highly agreeable to being naked, I kicked the pants and underwear off my feet.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I registered that he was still fully clothed, but it seemed unimportant when his arms banded around me and picked me up to move us into the center of the bed. His mouth found mine again, and his weight settled off to my right side. We continued to make out as his hand drifted back down to my center and gently started toying with me. Again.

Toying being the key word because he was just brushing his fingers along my skin so gently I could barely feel it. A ghost of a touch high on the inside of my thigh or along my slit just long enough to send a chill through my body before disappearing. He did it enough times that my body was pulsing with desire, causing me to twitch in a full body convulsion with each gentle swipe.

"Steve!" I pulled my mouth away from his long enough to wail.

I almost came from the low chuckle he emitted combined with the way he nibbled on my collarbone. Thankfully that was followed by him thrusting two fingers fully into me, and I went off screaming. As I came back to myself, I was aware of Steve whispering sweet words into my ear while his fingers worked to gently soothe me.

Then he rolled over and took me with him. Once I was on top of him, he lifted and pulled me forward until I was straddling his face. Both arms came up from behind me to wrap around my thighs and hold them apart while holding my weight. His eyes were shining with delight as he slowly started lapping at me with his tongue, gently enough to start bringing me up again without hurting where I was oversensitive.

I threw my arms out to press my palms flat against the wall in front of me and keep me from melting into a puddle on top of him once he started flicking his tongue on my clit at an increasingly fast pace. This time there was no teasing, as soon as his eyes saw the fire in mine that meant I was ready to go again, he applied his mouth ruthlessly. It felt like a matter of seconds, but realistically must have been minutes, before I was flying into another orgasm.

I was gasping for breath by the end and collapsed forward so my forearms were flat against the wall and my head was resting in the crook of my elbow. Rolling my head enough to look down into Steve's eyes, I couldn't help but respond to his grin with a dazed smile of my own.

He gently slid out from between my legs and carefully set my knees on the bed, legs still spread. I was surprised they didn't just give out from under me on contact. From behind, Steve pressed himself along my back to nibble on my ear and ask, "doing okay?"

I made a vaguely affirmative sound before turning my face into his for a kiss. Because he was so good at the slow, enchanting kisses, I didn't even register the sound of his pants zipper or the way he moved me so I was in a slightly better position until after he pressed himself into me. I was still overly sensitive and swollen from the first two orgasms, and the sensation was delicious with a hint of an almost overwhelming burn.

"Breathe," he commanded when I sucked in a breath at the penetration and didn't let it go even after he bottomed out. In response, I let out a whooshing sound before sucking in a fresh breath of oxygen and he said, "there you go. We're going to take this real slow."

True to his word, he didn't move again right away, instead went back to using his mouth on my neck, shoulder... Anywhere it could reach really. His hands slowly came off my hips, making sure I could hold myself in an upright position. When he was satisfied I wouldn't do an impression of a wet noodle under him, his hands slid up to cup my breasts.

At first, the motion was almost soothing, just like his stillness inside of me. Eventually though, his hands started plucking at my nipples and becoming more demanding. Without conscious thought, my body started responding, with my hips bucking backwards into him and creating a little bit of movement within me.

This drew his hands off my breasts, and one arm banded firmly across my hips to hold me still. The other, more treacherous hand brought his fingers down to my clit. I didn't know if it was a relief or too much when they started firmly stroking, but he obviously knew what he was doing because a few minutes later I came with a scream that I muffled in my arm, not wanting to test the room's soundproofing. Steve bit down, carefully so as to not break the skin on my shoulder as he followed me over the edge without a single thrust.

Of course that super soldier serum stamina came into play moments later when he decided to finally start moving. For a few seconds I wasn't at all sure that I could follow him, even with my Inhuman status. Then he pulled me away from the wall, not missing a beat, and turned us back toward the middle of the bed. With sure hands he pushed on my shoulders, encouraging me to rest my head and shoulders on the bed.

I turned so I could watch him over my shoulders and the sight of him still clothed just did something to me that gave me a newfound sense of urgency. Biting my lip, I felt myself start rushing back into the heat of the moment and actually shifting into Steve on each inward stroke he made. Then my right hand slid down under my body and started rubbing my clit, and Steve groaned in appreciation as I automatically start to tighten around him.

"Steve, how are you even doing this to me?" I wailed.

"I just want you to feel good," he murmured, sliding himself forward and down so his body was pressed along my back. "As good as you make me feel because every moment around you is bliss. And this is, Steph, having you around me is like something beyond Heaven."

As he spoke, he tangled one hand with the one I had on my clit and used it to urge me to pick up the pace. His other hand pulled my free arm out, bent it at the elbow, then slid it under me so I was fondling my left breast. Then it left my hand to move across my chest to my right breast, making sure it wasn't left out. He'd stopped moving on his own to provide me a sturdy base as the lust overtook me and I started moving myself on him.

Eventually, I accidentally tilted my hips in response to a pinch Steve's fingers over mine on my clit. That shift inadvertently revealed _the_ perfect angle. Neither of us could hold back a heavy groan, and after two more strokes it was over. I lost all control of my body and my thoughts as I thrashed around under Steve's body. More than once I thought my orgasm was over only to be surprised by a small aftershock when Steve shifted. Once I finally caught my breath, I murmured a few words that probably didn't even make sense to Steve before simply closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.

When I came to the first time, it was still dark out and I stumbled to the bathroom before crawling back into bed, not registering anything more about the span of minutes I was awake. The second time I awoke, Steve was sliding into bed behind me, and I could feel that he was gloriously naked. So was I for that matter, and I remembered briefly thinking about getting clothes when I woke up the first time, but being too out of it to think it was worth the effort required.

"Good morning," Steve whispered, letting me know that he was aware of the fact that I was awake. He pressed a kiss to my shoulder, as was becoming a morning habit of his, but made no move to get up, so I settled in on my side with him behind me for a snuggle.

"I see you decided to join the ranks of the naked," I teased.

I could feel Steve's chest shake in silent laughter as he said, "believe it or not, I wasn't planning to actually have sex with you last night, that's why I didn't get undressed to start."

"I'm not sure I _do_ believe you," I retorted. "Although there's that whole not lying thing you have going on."

"Honestly, I was just going to…"

"Get me off?" I supplied when he seemed unsure of how he wanted to phrase it.

That got me a strangled noise before Steve continued with, "sure, for lack of a better term, so that you didn't have to think- much like you asked me to. Then I was going to hold you while you slept."

"How chivalrous," I said, rolling onto my back so I could see Steve when he shifted to lean over me. "Why?"

"I like to think I _am_ chivalrous."

"Yes, Steve, you single handedly prove that chivalry isn't dead pretty much every day, so please, continue. I have a feeling I've got to hear this."

Steve pressed a light kiss to my lips this time and said, "I've done the casual sex thing before, but with you, I like our time to be more making love and less..."

He trailed off once again, so I supplied the word, "fucking?"

Steve rolled his eyes but nodded. "I want it to be about the two of us when we're together. Not about you trying to keep your mind off your family or whatever."

"Steve," I said, taking his face in both my hands before deciding better and sitting up so that he'd flop onto his back and I could lay on top of him. "I love you. Trust me, as soon as you started kissing me, I was thinking about nobody but you. Nothing but what you were doing to my body. It may have been fast and hard at times, but you were gentle too. You made me feel treasured."

As I spoke, my hands started drifting, and when I was done, I let my mouth wander down to worship at Steve's body. Over the next hour, I did everything in my power to make Steve feel just as treasured as he made me feel, holding off his attempts at reciprocating until the very end.

When we finally collapsed into an exhausted pile (again, my mind pointed out), I croaked out, "just how late are we? Please tell me I have time for a shower."

"Steph, we both reek of sex. Even if we didn't have time for a shower, I'd insist that we both take one anyway. Unless we were being called out for a mission anyway."

"Well, I mean, I kind of understand that, but it's just us right? And it isn't that bad so why would it bother you…" I trailed off with a sudden realization. "Oh my god, hearing isn't the only enhanced sense of yours is it? Your sense of smell is too? Gross! And you're worried because you're not the only one who'd be able to smell it!" I cut off with a full body shiver, and Steve just laughed and stood up with me in his arms to get us moving toward that shower.

 _ **Steve's POV**_

Steph made the most adorable wrinkled face when I confirmed that I had an enhanced sense of smell, and her nose scrunched up even more when I informed her that Thor and Bucky did as well.

Because Steph didn't really seem to need quite as much sleep as she had luxuriated in before her transition, and we'd gotten to bed early because of the upset, we actually weren't behind schedule at all when we walked out of the bedroom. We decided to go for a run around the perimeter again as we chatted about our trip to Trenton in a few hours.

Steph was concerned about me being recognized, while I was concerned about HYDRA recognizing Steph and launching a full-on assault on her. When I noticed a slight hitch in Steph's step and asked about it, she flushed as she mentioned muscles she was using regularly now but hadn't been for a while before she got to know me.

Never let it be said I couldn't read between those lines, so when we made it to the gym, I started out Steph's training for the day with assisted stretching. I had just gotten Steph to stop giggling over one of the admittedly more suggestive stretch positions when Pietro walked in with Wanda. He immediately covered his eyes when he saw us and said, "my eyes! I am too young to see this!"

Wanda reached up and smacked her brother in the back of the head, but the damage was already done and Steph dissolved into a fit of giggles once again. Knowing it wasn't worth it, I switched us to another stretch.

When Natasha walked in, Steph was still laughing. Natasha simply took in the situation and said, "well, Steph, you're doing better than I thought you would be this morning. I'm going to ask Steve to forgo the rest of your workout though in favor of a little more time to do some extra time for us to work together on your fighting. Just in case anything goes wrong in Trenton."

Steph immediately sobered up, and when she looked at me I nodded my head. Standing, I offered Steph help to her feet and watched her leave the room with Natasha.

"You're not going with them?" Sam asked, sounding surprised.

"No," I told him. "Maybe I would if she wasn't on the team yet, but she's Joule now. I have to trust her and treat her like everyone else on the team when it comes to things like this. I'll spar with her when requested and otherwise, I trust Natasha to do her job with Steph's training. I haven't sat in on any of their sessions."

"Smart man," Rhodey said.

The rest of the morning passed quickly, and by lunch we were settled into the war room, going through our plan. Knowing it was Steph's only request for the day, I agreed to drive us down on one of my bikes, even though it would take a few hours. The team would follow on the jet, and we'd meet up with them to fly home.

Steph's necklace chain had been temporarily replaced with one that contained a tracker and microphone in the clasp. My top shirt button had been replaced with one that had a camera, and my belt buckle had a tracker in it. Because I couldn't bring my shield, I was armed with a gun much like Steph. Both Steph and I were fitted with earpieces small enough that they should go unnoticed by her family.

For most of the ride, Steph and I chatted normally. We filled the drive with comfortable conversation and silence in equal parts with occasional jokes tossed in there. While the bike wasn't the one I usually rode for fear of it being recognized, the one we took was more comfortable for the longer ride. As we drew closer to Trenton, her cheerfulness waned in favor of pensiveness. I didn't have a spidey sense of my own, but I could still tell that Steph was unhappy, and I hated it.

Steph insisted that we could not be late, but she also didn't want to be too early. So we had left with plenty of time in case of traffic and found a secluded place to stop about a half an hour out from Trenton. My goal at that point was to try to get her to relax a little and to help the time pass.

With that in mind I said, "you said something last night before you fell asleep that didn't really make sense."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" She asked, her voice a little lighter than expected.

"You mentioned something about giving up sugar and jelly donut hormones. Does that mean anything to you?"

Steph doubled over in laughter, taking me by surprise. "I take it that makes sense to you?" I asked incredulously.

Steph managed to get herself under control then said, "it does, but I think you'd rather I explain that one to you sometime when we aren't being listened to by the team. For now, suffice to say I was considering the merits of giving up eating sugar."

"Alright," I responded warily. "It's about time to get on the road again. Remember, you can call me Steve, but we decided on the last name of Peters just in case. And I'm in private security, a friend of Ranger's with a company in Upstate New York."

"I've been helping you out at Ranger's request, but I've accepted a job offer and will be staying there."

"And if they ask for your address?"

"I live onsite. For security reasons, we don't allow personal mail to be delivered to our physical address. Then I supply them with the PO box in Cooperstown."

"When do you want to bring up the whole… biological parents thing?" I asked curiously.

"Whenever it comes pouring out of my mouth." Steph sounded curt, but I knew it wasn't because of me as she continued, "frankly, I don't think that will take too long. You might not actually get to eat dinner."

"In which case, it will be only a few minutes before we're back at base and you can ask Mary to make you something delicious as comfort food. Bet she'd even make you a cake if you asked nicely."

Steph beamed up at me when I said that, and she responded, "see, this day is looking up already. Not that it got off to a bad start, but the middle hasn't been my favorite."

"You ready for this?" I asked once more after pressing a quick kiss to her lips.

"I'm not sure it is possible for me to be ready," Steph admitted. "Just like I'm certain you're not ready for Grandma Mazur."

Steph had tried to prepare me for meeting her grandmother, but I didn't imagine it was going to be as bad as she had said. "I promise not to let Grandma scare me off," I reassured.

"Hey, she might not even actually be my grandmother genetically, in which case you'll have nothing to worry about on that end!"

"We don't know for sure," I cautioned. "The hospital could have screwed up the records."

"To the point of saying the wrong baby was dead?" Steph asked incredulously.

She had a point so I didn't say anything more, just helped her onto the bike behind me and got us on our way to Trenton once more. We didn't speak as I weaved through traffic, other than for Steph to give me directions once we approached the Burg. When we pulled to a stop outside a house that looked more or less like all the rest we'd driven past, Steph pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Five minutes to six," she announced. "Perfect."

There was an old woman I assumed to be Grandma Mazur standing at the open screen door. As soon as Steph pulled her helmet off and shook out her hair, I heard the woman call, "it's Steph and that new boyfriend of hers!"

Then she opened the door and rushed us as we approached, and Steph was right, I wasn't really prepared for Grandma Mazur. I hadn't even made it in the door or been introduced before she grabbed my ass and squeezed for the first time.

"Grandma!" Steph scolded as I rushed forward to get the door and hold it open for both women, giving Steph a wink to let her know it was okay as she walked past me.

"I see you found a fellow with manners, Steph; that's well done." Grandma Mazur commented and I could hear chuckling through our earpieces. "And he's a looker!"

"Yes he is, Grandma," Steph said pulling Grandma into another hug and whispering something in her ear that I didn't hear.

I followed Steph down the hallway to a living room where a man, presumably her father was sitting on a recliner. When he saw us walk in, he checked his watch then turned off the TV and stood, offering me his hand.

"Hi, Mr. Plum, I'm Steve," I said while easily shaking his hand.

"You can call me Frank," he grumbled out almost inaudibly. "Steph says you're in security?"

I nodded my head and said, "that's right."

"Former Army though," he said, and it wasn't a question but I nodded again anyway. "You carry yourself like Army."

I wasn't entirely sure that was a compliment, but I thanked him anyway and let him guide me into the dining room while Steph went toward the kitchen.

"Steph's sister, Valerie, and her husband and kids aren't going to make it tonight," Frank said gruffly. "So it shouldn't be too crazy."

I wasn't too sure myself, catching Steph's face as she walked in carrying what looked liked mashed potatoes in one hand and green beans in the other. Behind her was a woman who was practically screaming, "no one else's daughter blows up entire apartment buildings."

I stood once more as Steph approached the table, but was completely unsurprised when she slammed the bowls she was carrying down onto the table. The green bean bowl shattered, and I wasn't sure if it was because of the force she'd used to set it down or her powers. I didn't see any glowing in her eyes, so I was fairly certain it was the former.

Because I could see the look on her face, I knew it was coming when she spun and said, "then I guess it's a good thing I'm _not_ your daughter, isn't that right?!"

Grandma Mazur sucked in a shocked breath, so I was fairly certain she wasn't in on it- or at the very least it hadn't been her idea to keep Steph in the dark. Frank, on the other hand, just looked resigned.

"Finally," Helen screamed. "You finally figured it out."

"Why?" Steph asked sounding so small I couldn't help but reach out for her and pull her back into me.

"Why do you think?" Helen spat out at Steph. "Money. They said someone was after them, but we wouldn't be in any danger from that person. Then they gave us enough money, cash, to buy this place and then some."

"What?" Grandma asked. "But… you were pregnant, you went into labor, and you came home with Steph. If she's not yours, where is your baby."

Helen didn't seem willing to answer, so I said, "she died."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Steph asked after several minutes of silence.

"You were always such a pain in the ass, causing trouble every time I turned around," Helen said, disdain filling her voice. "I thought if I told you, you'd go looking for them. Then you'd bring whoever was chasing them down on us, and you were already more trouble than you were worth."

Utter silence reigned again, and finally Steph turned and looked at her father and asked, heartbroken, "why?"

Frank was blinking back what I was sure were uncharacteristic tears and he said, "because you were _mine_. You were my pumpkin from the moment I held you for the first time, biology be damned. And I didn't want to lose you, but your mother always treated you badly. I thought if you left, I wouldn't get to see you anymore."

"Why didn't you stand up for her?" I couldn't stop myself from asking because this was a man who really seemed like his heart was breaking.

"Helen threatened you, didn't she?" Grandma asked.

Frank nodded his head sadly and said, "she swore that if I left her, she'd fight for custody. Mothers almost always win custody battles, and we'd put the house in her name so the judge probably would have given her the girls for that reason alone. So I tried to find little ways to make it better for her. When her mom pushed her to get married, I pushed her to go to college and get a job so she wouldn't make a mistake and marry and have kids with the wrong person."

"Like you did," Steph said.

Frank nodded his head feebly, and Steph walked to him and pulled him into a hug. I could hear her sniffling in between whispers of, "I'm so sorry, Pumpkin."

Wanting to give them some space, I turned to where Grandma Mazur was railing on her own daughter, Helen. "How could you not tell me?!" she was saying. "I don't care how upset you were about losing your baby, you should have never taken someone else's if you had no intention of loving her as your own!"

"I tried, but she's just so-" Helen started only to be cut off by Grandma.

"She is a wonderful woman, and she was a pip of a kid. You just always had your panties in a twist because you were worrying too much about what everyone else thought and not enough about the responsibility you took on to love her _unconditionally_! And then to keep this from her, even after she was an adult. What was the point in that? Why there can't have been one other than spite!"

Those two kept at it, Helen trying to defend herself and Grandma lecturing her like she was still a child, but Steph and her dad separated finally and walked into the living room. I followed them, and Steph and I proceeded to ask Frank about everything he could remember.

The couple was caucasian and had looked enough like Helen and Frank that Steph easily passed as their own all these years. Unfortunately, they hadn't gotten any name other than the fake names they'd supplied the hospital, and the Plums had been paid in cash, so there'd be no tracking that down after all these years. Our teammates muttered additional questions in our ears, which we relayed, but in the end we didn't have anything more than confirmation that Steph's biological parents were not those she'd grown up believing were hers. And we'd probably never know anything more about them- other than at least one of them was probably Inhuman.

As we were following up, Helen and Grandma Mazur walked in. Steph turned to Helen and started, "Mom-"

"Don't call me that," Helen shot back.

Steph cringed backward as though physically struck, and I helped her back to her feet deciding then and there that I didn't care if Helen did offer to have us stay for a now late dinner, we weren't staying.

"Helen," Frank said in a warning tone. "Don't say things you'll regret-"

"The only thing I regret is ever bringing her home with us," Helen insisted.

Frank looked pissed, but turned to me as I approached him.

"Thank you for your time, Frank," I said. "We appreciate you telling us what you could remember."

"Right," Steph said, now ignoring Helen and turning to Grandma Mazur. "Grandma?"

"That's right, Baby Girl, I'm your Grandma no matter what!" she crowed happily in response, causing Steph to give her a relieved smile.

"I've taken a job with Steve's company, so I won't be moving back to Trenton. You and Daddy know my phone number if you need anything."

Frank looked like he was going to protest, but then he turned pensive. "That might be for the best. I'll be moving out after tonight, so I'll call you and give you my new address when I do."

"Daddy, you don't have to," Steph started.

"Yes, I do. I should have done it a long time ago, and I'm done putting her and her stupid Burg biddies first. I have a buddy in Albany, so maybe I'll try out Upstate New York for a bit."

I was startled, but then again Albany was a fairly big city, so I nodded my head and said, "if you need any help with the move, let Steph know. I'd be happy to bring some friends and give you a hand."

Steph gave Frank and Grandma Mazur each one more hug before nodding brusquely at Helen and letting me guide her back out toward the door. As soon as we hit the front porch, I could feel a little bit of tension drain from Steph's back where I had my hand on her. She moved sideways and grabbed my hand in hers, leaning into me a little as we walked back across the street to my bike.


	27. Announcing Joule

**Chapter 27 - Announcing Joule**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

For some reason I actually thought we were going to make it out the door without another blow-up from my mother. Former mother? Helen.

I don't know why I had that hope; pretty much everything in my life previously should have taught me I wouldn't be that lucky.

We had barely made it off the last step when the screen door slammed open behind us with a reverberating slap. The sound was followed immediately by the screech of my mother, "don't you come back here again! I never want to see you or one of your thugs you again- I didn't raise you to be such a slut! Honestly, Stephanie!"

I started to turn, but felt Steve's grip tighten on my arm for a second before he let go. I stopped listening to my mom's continued ramblings as Steve leaned down and whispered in my ear, "just go get the bike started; I'll only be a minute longer."

He pressed his keys into my hand and I snorted at the flimsy excuse he asked of me, but I did it anyway. If he wanted to take this fight, I was happy to let him have it. Still, I wanted to see what was going on, so I walked to the far side of the bike and started putting on my helmet. I could just make out the shapes of my father and grandmother standing behind my mom, nodding along to whatever Steve was saying.

The neighbors were out to watch the show, but I ignored them as I looked at the keys in my hand. With a shrug, I stuck the correct one into the bike and turned the ignition. As I was completing the motion, I knew there was a problem. Moving faster than I could remember doing in my life, I ducked, even as the explosion started.

It would take a few minutes after the excitement ended for me to process everything I'd done in that split second because the some unknown part of my brain analyzed the situation and reacted without conscious thought. I'd thrown a force field up around myself to protect me from shrapnel, and mentally prayed that Steve was still far enough away from the bike to be safe. At the same time, I allowed the heat and the energy through so I could soak it in, minimizing the damage to the surrounding area and charging me up.

"Stephanie!" I heard my father yell, echoed by Grandma Mazur.

Steve hadn't bothered to yell, just taken off running toward me. He reached me just as a secondary explosion happened, so I lowered my shield long enough to pull him into me and put a new one around us both. We stood like that, breathing heavily and stepped a few paces away. When I judged us to be a safe distance, I dropped the shield and looked at Steve with wide eyes.

"What do you think the odds are that no one saw that?"

Steve grimaced then asked hopefully, "what are the odds that anyone here will actually _admit_ to seeing that?"

I snapped my fingers and pointed at him because it was a genius idea. "As long as we get Grandma to not say anything, that may work… at least as far as the cops are concerned. There will be rumors and rumblings, like always, but it might help."

I caught Grandma's eyes across the street and pursed my lips, putting a finger up to them in the classic "shhhh" gesture. When she nodded her head solemnly and whispered to my dad who did the same, I looked at Steve and grinned, "Grandma's in."

Just then, Ranger emerged from the shadows next to us. Calmly he said, "I can't believe my bike just exploded."

He passed me a set of keys, and I pantomimed to phone my dad and grandma that I would call them, and tugged on Steve's hand. We took off at a run, with Steve murmuring to himself. As we reached Ranger's Turbo, I said, "going to be a tight fit for you, sorry."

I slid behind the wheel as Steve climbed into the passenger seat, and as soon as his door was shut, I laid rubber getting out of there. Steve was still talking, and I realized it was to our team through his earpiece. Reaching up, I pulled mine out, realizing it didn't feel quite right and handed it to Steve.

"Yeah, her earpiece is melted," Steve said to the others.

Well, that explained it then. Five minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot where the jet was waiting. Steve got out, and looked like he was trying to figure out what to do with the car, but I just gestured for him to go. A minute later, a big black SUV pulled up, and when Tank got out, I tossed the keys to him.

"You okay, Little Girl?" he called as I started walking toward the shadows to where I'd seen Steve disappear.

"Yes! Thank Ranger for the escape for me," I hollered back. "Make sure not to dent the Turbo on your way back! I want credit for borrowing it and not destroying it!" I waved over my shoulder and disappeared into the jet.

When the jet closed behind me, I took a seat and at Steve's raised brow, I said, "Rangeman Valet: it's the best."

"Are you both alright?" Natasha called from the pilot's seat.

Steve and I yelled back that we were fine, only to be cut off by Wanda saying shakily, "Steph, your leg."

Looking down, I saw that it was bleeding profusely and said, "huh. You know what that looks like?"

Steve was on his knees in front of me and calmly replied, "gunshot wound."

"Yeah," I said shakily. "And I think I'm going to…"

I trailed out, noting with relief Pietro blurring into action and stopping in front of me holding a bin just in time for me to vomit into it. Steve just grimaced and made soothing noises from where he was applying pressure to the wound which, although a necessary action, hurt like a bitch. Wanda came to my side and when she started glowing I said, "no, it's okay, don't. It's just a flesh wound, so let me try."

With that, I closed my eyes and focused on my energy, rather than the pain. A few minutes later, I felt the jet land down, and met Steve's eyes.

Natasha rushed back and stared at me assessingly, "Daniel is unreachable at the moment."

"Okay, I'm pretty sure I made no real progress on my own," I added.

Steve removed his hands and nodded, "you're still bleeding at the same rate, as far as I can tell."

Bucky was standing behind Steve and when he caught a glimpse of my leg he said, "that's a hell of a hole in your leg there, Doll. High caliber rifle is my guess. That would also explain why I assume neither of you heard a gunshot over the sounds of the explosion." He undid my seatbelt as he was talking, then grabbed me under the arms with his metal hand, slid his human hand down under my thighs and lifted. If it wasn't for the fact that he was still talking, I probably would have admired the way he and Steve worked without needing to communicate with each other. Steve kept applying pressure while they easily moved together in synchronicity. "What do you say we go let the doc close that up?"

"Well, last time I went for quantity of wounds, so this time I thought I'd go for quality," I bit out.

Because we hadn't been able to call with more advanced warning, since I'd been inexplicably walking on my busted leg when we got to the jet (thanks, adrenaline), medical wasn't given more than a couple minutes' warning and they weren't waiting for us when we pulled up. Instead Bucky carried me forward, through the hall, various employees shifting out of the way when they saw us coming. When we made it into the Avengers medical room, Dr. Cho was just finishing setting up her table.

"Well, Steph," she said dryly. "What seems to be the problem today?"

"Bullet," I sighed out.

"You don't say," Dr. Cho muttered in response. "I expected something more challenging from you at this point."

"Well, there was an explosion, but I contained that and shielded myself." Looking over at Steve as she set to work I said, "so either my shield doesn't stop bullets which, hey, good to know. Or it got me in the couple of seconds I had it down to add you in."

"Or your shield deflected it some," Bucky said. "and that explains why it's trajectory is off. I'd have to see the scene, but this looks like it struck you at too much of a downward angle to have come from a sniper."

Everyone kind of crowded around the table to see what he was talking about, and I shrugged as Dr. Cho started injecting pain medications and numbing my calf. I was perfectly happy to let the others think and spend my time concentrating on not vomiting again.

"Steph?" Dr. Cho was saying a couple minutes later, and I shook my head to bring my attention back as I realized it wasn't the first time she'd called my name.

"Yeah?" I focused on her face.

"How's that feel?" she asked me.

"How does what feel?" I asked, puzzled momentarily by both the question and the laughter that surrounded me at my response.

Dr. Cho smiled and said, "alright then."

I watched with a kind of out-of-body fascination as she started cleaning the wound. Then she set her machine up to start working on me, but she immediately frowned and started barking orders off at her assistants. The machine was wheeled away, and one of the assistants started working on it before Dr. Cho shoved her out of the way. Another assistant came over and applied a pressure bandage to my leg to slow the bleeding.

There was hurried conversation between all the medical staff, and finally Dr. Cho looked at me with a curious expression. When she stepped toward me again, she took the needle another assistant offered along with a strip of rubber. I frowned because I knew what that combo meant, and pouted up at Steve while she set about drawing blood.

"I thought you already had the machine programmed to Steph's genetic makeup after the last time, Doc." Natasha commented.

"Well, so did I," Dr. Cho responded. "But that doesn't seem to be working. So I'm thinking that when I get this and a previous blood sample under a microscope, they're going to be significantly different. Which means, Steph, I'll give you until morning to feel better, but first thing, you're in for a new physical."

The doors from the hallway into the Avengers space whooshed open before I could answer, and Darcy strolled in. She was carrying what looked like a laptop with a tablet on top of it and balancing an over-stuffed tray from the cafeteria on it in one hand. In the other, she had a plate with a meatball sub. Thor stepped forward to take the more precarious pile, and she slid the plate onto my lap.

"You busy?" she asked, staring at me expectantly.

I looked over to where the doctor and her team were working quickly with my blood, and down at the sandwich in my lap. "I guess not?" I replied. "Just stay out of Dr. Cho's way once she's ready again. What's up?"

"Take a bite of your sandwich first," she commanded. I shrugged and picked it up, digging in and noticing as Darcy pointed Steve to the full tray. "Okay, I wanted to make sure you both ate, and then I wanted to go over some things with you. First of all, you should know that I'm responsible for a large part of the team's PR, especially where social media is concerned. I heard you didn't have a Facebook account, and I can set up a private one for you if you'd like, but in the meantime, I've set up a public Facebook account as well as Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and, well, any account I could think of using the handle AvengerJoule."

"I know what Facebook is," I replied slowly. "It's always helpful for finding skips if they have an account and check in places."

"Well, if Cap can learn Facebook and Twitter, I expect you to learn at least those two and use them from time to time. I'll also send out official messages through them, but I expect you to put some of your own personality in them as well." She instructed face fully serious, and when I looked at Steve he just shrugged. I turned back to Darcy as she said, "now, I've spoken to the gala people at the Smithsonian, and they've agreed to let it be a uniformed Avengers event, which means, we can have you in your costume there and not worry so much about people figuring out your real name."

"Uh, Darce," Steve said. "Why does my Facebook Account now say I'm 'In a Relationship' with Joule? Instead of just the unspecified 'In a Relationship' that Tony had it listed as."

"Well, we have limited time to market this event, and this seemed like the easiest way. Now we've teased that there's a new Avenger who will be unveiled. Trust me, ticket prices are through the roof, and they just keep selling." Steve shot Darcy a look, and she just waggled her finger in response. "Oh no, you don't. You wanted the opportunity to raise funds for the Avengers, and to do that, you need butts in the seats. So don't you get all self-righteous on me about this. As soon as you showed up with a new Avenger who had curly brown hair, people would have figured out that she was the one in the picture. Not to mention the fact that I'm fairly certain you two would be pretty bad at pretending you weren't together at a gala. I'm just jumping the gun by a week and a half in order to help the team."

"Yes, ma'am," Steve replied, shooting me a little wink along with a reassuring smile.

"Uh, I don't have a uniform yet," I said.

"Tony says the first one will be ready tomorrow for you to test; he isn't sure if he can make it here himself, but it'll be here by morning either way," Darcy informed me.

"Huh, okay. That was fast," I mused.

"Gotta be fast in case you need to go out and save the world!" Sam enthusiastically declared.

"So what does my Facebook page say?" I asked.

Darcy slid her tablet over to me at the same time as Dr. Cho started wheeling her machine back over. I started to hand the tablet back, but Dr. Cho just waved off the motion and said, "it's fine Steph. Finish your sandwich and play with that. Your blood is a little... weird, but you're not in danger of bleeding out, so we're going to take this slow."

I thought about asking questions, but decided any explanation about the intricacies of blood would be beyond me. Instead I polished off the sandwich and looked at the tablet in front of me. All that was there was a bare page- in a long image across the top was an Avengers logo and where the "profile picture" would be was a detailed, intricate version of the symbol Steve had drawn for me. When I pulled the image up full size, I noticed his initials and a date on it and smiled at him. The profile had an "official" badge which made it look even more authentic.

"Thanks for the picture," I said smiling over at Steve and seeing him blush in a pleased response. Then I looked back at Darcy and asked, "This can't possibly be right? It says I already have over a million followers?"

"FRIDAY?" Darcy called, clearly having already set something up with the AI.

Off to the side, a stretch of wall turned into a TV and started playing a news report. On air, a reporter I didn't know was saying, _"new speculation today after Facebook users discovered this verified account."_ The screen switched to show a copy of my mostly empty Facebook page, then switched to a split screen of the anchor and my Twitter page that used the same two images as she said, _"at first it was believed to be an Internet prank, but the excitement has taken hold as a Twitter official page was discovered with the same handle being followed by all your favorite Avengers. From this account was tweeted the simple message, 'looking forward to meeting you all' followed by a date we've now discovered marks the first public, group appearance since the events of Sokovia for the Avengers team. It will be a publicity session to mark the reopening of a revamped Captain America gallery at the Smithsonian followed by a fundraising gala."_

 _"Speaking of Captain America,"_ her co-anchor broke in. _"A message on_ _ **his**_ _Facebook page lends credence to the theory of a new Avenger joining the team. You may remember a Facebook post days ago listing him as being in a relationship accompanied by this picture. Today this has been updated once more to say that he is in a relationship with none other than the mysterious 'Joule'."_

The original anchor spoke again and said, _"only time will tell if this is real or a publicity stunt, but in the meantime, the world seems to be eagerly anticipating the arrival of a new member of this occasionally controversial, but generally well-loved, team of superheroes. We'll leave it to you to decide what the skills and powers of this brunette, assumed to be a woman, are with this simple fact: a joule is a derived unit of energy for the International System of Units."_

"Well, that's surreal," I said. "They were talking about me on- seriously was that CNN?"

"You'll get used to it," Wanda muttered wryly.

"Sure…" I said slowly, knowing I didn't sound at all convinced. Then I looked down at my leg and asked, "how's it going, Doctor?"

Dr. Cho smiled up at me and said, "it's going well- I've cranked the speed up and you're just about back to good as new. I suspect, given what Lincoln told me of your healing, you'll be ready and raring to go by morning. We'll have that physical and then I'll clear you for active duty again."

An hour later found Steve and I flopped down side-by-side on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"So…" I said. "That was my family."

Steve rolled over so that he could lean over me and rest across my body, without laying his full weight on me. "I loved Grandma, even if she did have her hands in places I'd rather pretend she never did!"

"I saw her get your ass a couple of times, but she didn't get more than that, did she?"

"Once," he simply replied.

Steve was resting his weight on his right arm, so his left came up and tucked a wayward curl behind my ear. Then his hand moved to cup my face with his thumb stroking along my cheekbone, and he stared into my eyes as he said, "your dad seems okay- like he messed up royally, but he did it for the right reasons and he really wants to make it up to you."

"Yeah," I agreed. "To be fair, he did always offer encouragements when we had some time alone. He just didn't ever really stand up for me when Mom was yelling or telling me to be more like Valerie. Which, now that we know what we do, makes a kind of sense now that it didn't before. And it's a bit sad, really; I was never going to be able to be enough like Valerie for her. At least I know that now."

"I can't say I care much for your mother," Steve delivered lightly.

"Yeah," I got out before breaking into a laugh that quickly turned into a sob. Eventually I squeaked out, "I don't even know why I'm crying; she wasn't a good mom. And it turns out she never really was mine anyway. You can't lose something you never had."

Steve just pulled me into him then shifted us both so I was splayed across him. One big hand moved up and down my back in a soothing gesture and the other rested on my head and held me close. When he finally spoke, I could feel his deep voice rumble in his chest, "I think you can mourn something you always wanted and should have had though."

"Yeah," I agreed.

"How does the leg feel?" Steve asked.

"It's sore, but fine," I reassured him. "Want to have some 'thank goodness we're alive' sex? I promise to be careful!"

It turned out Steve did want that, and by the time we were done, I was too worn out to even dream.

Waking up the next morning, I felt Steve prodding at where my calf had been injured the night before. It wasn't until his lips pressed a gentle kiss to it that I carefully extracted myself from his grasp so I could roll onto my back and look at him questioningly.

"I'm sorry, I know medical science has come so far, but I was so sick as a kid and my mom died of sickness... I just find it so amazing. And I'm so grateful for it."

"Don't worry, making a gunshot wound disappear in less than an hour is still considered amazing by everyone in the world, I think. Well, maybe not Dr. Cho at this point? But she seems pretty grounded. Speaking of, I think I have somewhere I need to be?"

Steve stood and offered me a help up, hovering to make sure I really could stand without any problems before he dropped his hands. It was pretty adorable, so I grabbed them in mine and pulled him close for a kiss. "Thanks for caring," I murmured. In response, he pulled me even closer, and I couldn't help but allow him to deepen the kiss for several minutes. When his hands started wandering though, I stepped back and said, "keep your hands to yourself, soldier! I've got an appointment and I definitely need a shower first!"

"I could help you in the shower," Steve said with a grin.

Well, I mean, he was supposed to be the responsible one in the relationship, so if he thought we had time, I wasn't going to turn down an offer like that. An hour later, I was rushing into the Avengers tactical room just behind Steve, starting to pull my hair back into a ponytail. I made the turn toward the medical treatment room where Dr. Cho was patiently waiting and Steve stopped his forward progress to follow me.

Everyone else followed us, clearly amused as Steve stilled my hands and took my hair tie. He stood behind me and started braiding my hair while Dr. Cho began poking. Dr. Cho seemed surprised by his actions, but just raised a brow before turning back to me.

"You look... relaxed," she settled on.

"Yeah, walking billboard for the benefits of sex, I know. And I'm not even sorry. Well, I'm a little bit sorry if you've been waiting long, but honestly it wasn't even my idea!" I blurt out before slapping a hand over my mouth. When I felt I could trust myself again, I removed the hand and muttered, "sorry, Steve," over the laughter.

Steve just kept working and said, "not a problem, believe me."

"So I'm assuming you feel fine today?" Dr. Cho asked, keeping her tone professional despite the smile I could plainly see on her face.

"Right as rain!" I said.

Still she ran me through a few tests, and ran a full body test before launching into a full explanation of the differences in my blood. As I'd predicted the night before, the explanation made no sense to me. By the time the tests were finishing up, none other than Tony Stark was walking in, being trailed by some staff pushing a big cart, laden with boxes and garment bags. Once it was fully inside, they turned around and left, followed by Dr. Cho and her staff.

"I was expecting to find you all in the gym," Tony said.

"I got shot last night, and had to get cleared this morning," I offered. "We're having a bit of a slow start."

Tony's eyes ran over my face, and I could see realization dawn, but he didn't say anything more than a muttered, "good for you, Cap." To me he said, "well that's probably for the best, so you can spend the day in this and make sure it works. Run through all the paces. I've got a few versions here just in case, but we'll start with what I think will work best."

"Alright," Steve called out, "Avengers, suit up!"


	28. Afraid?

**Chapter 28 - Afraid?**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

After telling the team to get into uniform, Steve took the main parts of mine and walked over to one of the lockers along the wall that I only then realized had my logo on it. He took the plastic off and hung up or laid out all the pieces for me.

Instinctively, I wanted to protest at getting naked in front of everyone, but I realized Tony, Vision, and Thor had turned their back to us while conversing, and everyone else was opening up their lockers to do the same thing I was about to do. Steve was making it easier for me by having everyone else do the same, so I wasn't the only one changing in the room the first time. I gave him a smile of gratitude, and told myself that I was only stripping to my underwear, so it was no worse than going to the beach.

It also didn't escape my attention that my locker was the last in line so I was backed into a corner with Steve's huge body doing a pretty bang up job of blocking me from everyone else's view. With a small smile I pulled my shirt and pants off before reaching for my uniform pants.

Steve reached over without looking and stopped me, reaching into the locker and handing me what looked kind of like bike shorts to put on first. The material was extremely snug, but felt light and airy. As far as I could tell, it's purpose would be to prevent chafing while still being breathable and not making me any hotter. Then I tugged on my uniform pants.

Figuring there'd be something similar for the top, I reached into the same shelf, and found a thin short sleeved shirt. That I pulled on over my sports bra and then reached for my uniform shirt. It was heavier than it looked, with full body armor and would zip shut. With that in mind, I slung it over my shoulders and tugged up on the zipper. "Jesus," I whispered as it snagged a little.

Steve looked over with a frown while everyone else yelled, "language!" And I couldn't help but laugh at the resigned look on Steve's face as I got the zipper moving again and finished closing the shirt.

I was certain it was Steve, not Captain America who gave me the first once over in my uniform and that he _appreciated_ the view. The second pass was much more assessing, looking for weak points. A hand whipped out to test the armor and I caught it with my energy, using a similar strategy as when I had pinned him to the wall the day we sparred.

"Ah ah ah!" I said, waggling a finger. "I've had hours of training with Natasha. It's not that easy to get a hit in now."

Natasha barked out a laugh from somewhere down the line, and moments later she materialized next to Steve, looking around his body at me. To everyone else, she yelled out, "don't worry, they aren't having uniform sex!" Then reached out a hand and pulled me back into the center of the room. When she twirled her finger, I rotated slowly, and Natasha looked at Tony and simply said, "good."

Tony of course reflexively preened for a moment before scowling and saying, "obviously it's good! I'm a genius and a billionaire who made his money making weapons and things like armor! This is a simple uniform, I mean, you've seen the Iron Man and War Machine suits, right?!"

"Yes, Tony," Rhodey said in a bored, placating tone.

Rhodey, I noticed wasn't in his armor, but he was now clad in a pair of trousers and shirt that looked as though they were made of a similar, but less snug, version of the middle layer I had on. Everyone else was in uniform, except Thor, who picked up his hammer, thrust it at the sky, and slowly became encased in his battle armor.

"Well, that's handy," I murmured to no one in particular.

Thor just enthusiastically provided, "it is most convenient as I try to wear Midgardian garb for the majority of my time here."

"Sure," I murmured. Looking over at an odd mechanical sound, I saw pieces of War Machine armor flying into Rhodey and noted that, as Natasha had once told me, the face plate did come on last. Once it did, Rhodey retracted it so we could see his face. Somehow I ended up facing my team, all of them lined up in front of me with Steve in the middle, hands on his hips. I couldn't stop myself from blurting out, "how many times did you show up somewhere only to have the bad guys give up as soon as they got a look at you all?"

"Never other than Loki," Tony retorted from next to me, "and that was a trap. Still, I see your point, they are a fairly intimidating bunch. You'll fit right in."

I turned back to him, and said, "I'm trying to figure out how freaked out I should be by how well this top fits. There is like zero room for error."

He smirked and said, "for the sake of my face, I'll forgo all references to my familiarity with the female form and simply remind you that FRIDAY knows your body better than anyone... other than Cap!" Clearly wanting to move on and away from Steve, Tony walked back over to the cart. From it he pulled out some boots and tossed them to me to try on. "Okay, I have some gloves and jackets here as well. Then, you didn't seem wild about the goggles, so I made you some sunglasses that should stay on your face very, very well and still not give you that red outline around the eyes that goggles sometimes do."

I pulled on the boots, noticing the knives in holsters built right into them. Pulling one out, I looked at Sam and mouthed, "oh my God!"

He smiled to keep there from being any bite behind his words at all as he teased, "oh no you don't with the bonding with me over this superhero insanity. You had to go from being a perfectly good normal person like me and turn into a powered person instead!"

"Well, it's not like I chose!" I reasoned. "I think those pills are still in Steve's room if you want to play Russian Roulette!"

"No!" Wanda cried out immediately. "Sam is _not_ Inhuman. No one else here is."

"Steph, why do you still have them?" Steve asked.

"Well what do you want me to do? Throw them away?! They're crazy dangerous!"

"Yes, they are... they could kill me!" Steve said.

"Oh crap!" I responded, feeling my eyes bug out. "I mean, they're under the sink, and I just figured you wouldn't touch them!"

Clint walked over to medical and grabbed a biohazard bag, which he handed to me and said, "we have a protocol for this. Can you please go get them, and put them in this for the time being? Then the next time they're here, we'll ask Coulson and Skye what they want to do with them."

I grabbed the bag and ran down the hall to Steve's room quickly completing the task. The fish oil and vitamins had been in the duffle from Rangeman and whoever had moved me into to Steve's room had just brought the entire bag over. When I saw them, I didn't really think about Steve, I was so obsessed with the idea of them going in the trash and then getting into groundwater or something.

Racing back into the room, I gave Steve a quick kiss and apologized before turning back to Tony who was standing excitedly with the rest of my gear. We had to go through a few pairs of gloves before we found a pair that I would still allow me to channel my energy through them.

The glasses were amazing. They were big, charcoal grey, and had light blue accenting. The lenses were a mirrored light blue that my completely hid my eyes from view while also being resistant to... Pretty much everything- frost, rain, shattering, heat, and really whatever Tony could imagine, including bullets. All around them was a soft cushioning material meant to protect me and keep them from sliding once I activated FRIDAY in them. Something about FRIDAY running a current through them that changed the chemical properties and made them stick without shocking me. I didn't understand what he was talking about, but Tony seemed very proud of himself, so I oohed and aahed where it seemed appropriate as he explained.

The last piece I pulled on was the jacket, which felt only slightly stiffer than a regular leather jacket, presumably because of the armor somehow incorporated into it. "You really are a genius," I murmured to Tony, causing everyone else to groan. I shot at them, "come on, credit where credit is due! This jacket is amazing!"

"It is pretty good," Steve muttered, earning a broad smile from me. "Come on, let's go make sure you can move in it. And, since you're so confident about everything you've learned from Natasha already, you can spar with me again. Show me what you've learned so far."

I groaned good naturedly but let Steve guide me into the training room and onto the sparring mats anyway. Once again, I let him come at me, this time letting him grab onto both my shoulders before I moved, bringing my right elbow up to hit at the inside of his elbow and break the grapple. I cycled the motion up to hit him in the face then swung my elbow up to connect with him dead center in the chest three times in rapid succession. On the third, he stumbled back enough for me to wheel my body around and into a kick. I paired that with a blast of energy out of my hands to send him flying clear across the mats.

"You're a quick study," Steve said with a mixture of surprise and pride in his voice.

This time when he came at me again, I reached out to punch him and he easily blocked it. Then his right hand came up and latched onto my left shoulder, ensuring I couldn't get away. My eyes locked with Natasha's over his shoulder, and with her slight nod of encouragement, I moved. I grabbed onto the arm that was holding me, then swung my right hand up to punch him in the shoulder, causing him to lose the locked hold there before grasping him around the neck and throwing my entire body as hard as I could at his right arm. My momentum swung me all the way around his arm at the hips, and forced him to bend at the waist then crash to his knees in the process. I had him in an arm hold with his arm bent back awkwardly. I dropped him the rest of the way to the mat where he tapped out.

"Holy crap," Clint said on the sidelines. "How many hours did you work with her Nat?"

"As many as either of us could fit in," Natasha responded. "And she already had a very solid foundation from Ranger and his employees, I just needed to show her how to throw her weight around to make up for her smaller stature and comparative weakness. We don't know how strong she'll get, but odds are she'll always need or be able to use those things for an advantage."

I tuned them out as Cap came at me again, this time taking me to the mat pretty quickly. To be fair, Natasha hadn't been able to teach me that many moves yet, and Steve was fast at adapting to those he realized I knew. Still when we finished, the sweat that was pretty much dripping off me felt like victory. I knew I'd fought him much longer than last time and done much better.

"You learned all that in three days?" Sam asked when I walked over to the group.

"A lot of it was just applications of things I already learned from the Merry Men, and I worked with them a lot of work the week I was alone in Trenton." I explained. "And some of it was just taking those things a little further, and Natasha really has given me pretty much every moment I could spare and muster up the energy to work on it. We figured out that there's something going on with my powers to make the more acrobatic stuff easier for me. I haven't figured out how to fly or anything, but I'm pretty sure I'm aiding myself somehow."

"Controlling your gravitational potential energy," Tony said. "The energy an object has based on position in the gravitational field…"

He trailed off when he realized my eyes were glazing over, and Clint said, "It's what makes something fall when it's stationary but you let go of it in the middle of the air."

"Right," Tony agreed. "Or when you pull an arrow back in your bow, you're giving it potential energy which gets converted into kinetic energy when you let go and the bow does work on the arrow. Basically, you're manipulating your gravitational potential energy somehow, and how it gets converted into kinetic energy."

I shrugged, "sure, works for me. We figured it out the first time Natasha had me do something that I really couldn't do, but I pulled it off in kind of a flailing, slow-motion manner. After that, we were able to progress through lessons much more quickly."

Captain America nodded and said, "you have other areas you need to clear, and I'd like it if you and Natasha still worked diligently, but based on that performance I'd say you've cleared the close-quarters combat part of your training."

"There's a scary thought," I said.

Bucky rubbed his hands together and said, "no, the scary thought is that now I get to steal some of your time for weapons training regularly. Starting now, I think, as you have your uniform holsters and utility belt. Let's go see what we can fill it out with."

He seemed way too excited as he slung an arm over my shoulder and started guiding me out of the room, so I turned and mouthed back at Steve, "help me!" Some boyfriend he was, he only laughed and waved as I went to go play with weapons with The Winter Soldier.

As Bucky and I walked, I realized that he and I really hadn't spent much time _alone_ together. And he and Steve were best friends. They'd been through what might as well be Hell, and come out with a bond to each other as close to brothers. That was a more compelling reason I needed him to like me than just us being teammates.

After several minutes of silence, Bucky asked, "are you afraid of me?"

"Oh God, yes," I muttered.

Bucky cast a sideways glance and said, "from what I just saw, you stand a very good chance of more than taking care of yourself until everyone else gets here if I get triggered somehow and go crazy."

I couldn't help myself, I stopped walking and gaped up at him, "what?"

Bucky looked just as puzzled as I felt as he said, "you're afraid somehow I'm going to revert back to my HYDRA programming and kill you; it's okay, I'm used to it. Wanda swears that won't happen though, if that makes you feel better. Most people don't trust her either, but I figure you do so that might help to know."

I reached over and slugged him in the shoulder as hard as I could and scolded him, "don't ever let me hear you say something like that again! You're a good man, and I'm thrilled you're on my team. I am absolutely not afraid that you're going to have some kind of psychotic break and kill me!"

"You're the one who said you were afraid of me, Dollface."

"I'm not afraid of the Winter Soldier; I'm afraid of Bucky Barnes, Steve Roger's best friend for, I don't know, 80 or 90 years or something! So much like a brother that Steve was able to start busting you out of brainwashing by just reminding you how good of friends you were."

"Is that what Steve said?"

"No, he doesn't like to talk about it. Natasha mentioned the whole thing in very broad terms," I explained. "She offered me the file, but I declined."

"So why are you afraid of Bucky?"

I looked down at the ground and played with my right foot nervously as I said, "you're Steve's closest person. What you think of me matters. If you told him to never see me again, he'd probably do it."

A metal hand came up and pushed my chin up as Bucky asked, "you love him, right?"

"Yeah," I replied with as much of a nod as I could muster with my chin in his grip.

"And you'd never purposely hurt him or betray him," he said.

That one wasn't a question, but I still said, "of course not."

"Then even if it wasn't for the thousand other reasons I like you, Doll, that would be enough."

"Oh."

"You're wrong about one thing, though."

"What's that?" I asked curiously.

"He loves you, so he wouldn't leave you on my say so. Whatever the problem, he'd make it his new life's mission to fix whatever was wrong between us. And you haven't seen him when he has a mission yet, but the guy is relentless. He will not stop until he gets what he wants. I was a HYDRA brainwashed assassin who had no idea who he was other than the target of my primary mission, and look at me now. I'm HYDRA free and a _fucking_ good guy." Bucky said with a tone that clearly indicated he thought Steve was crazy for not giving up on him and putting him down. "There is one downside to you though."

"Things blow up around me?"

"No, that's a definite up side." Bucky retorted with a wild smile. Then he started walking again, looking out the corner of his eye at me again as he muttered, "ever since you came along, I keep being pushed into talking about my feelings."

He spat the last word out like he was talking about the foulest thing in the world, and I couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up. When he looked at me, I shook my head and said, "that's all Steve. I hate talking about feelings; we never talk about feelings in my fami..."

I trailed off, remembering The Dinner and was horrified to have my chin wobble as I started blinking profusely.

"No," Bucky said. "Come on Doll, we're not doing that. No tears for losers who were too moronic to see something brilliant in their lives. I was going to start with handguns, but if we need to cheer you up, I'm thinking we blow shit up instead. Everyone needs something unexpected in their personal arsenal, and I'm thinking we find you something that will freak Steve out. How do you feel about flamethrowers?"

We had turned a corner just as Bucky asked that last question, and four employees were walking toward us in the hallway. Clearly hearing what Bucky said, three of them went completely pale and all four of them practically ran out of the way. I managed to hold it in for about five seconds hoping they'd make it out of earshot before I burst out laughing.

I couldn't stop and after a full minute, I looked over at Bucky who had apparently been trying valiantly not to laugh as well. As soon as I made eye contact with him while wiping the tears of laughter off my face though, he broke and joined in.

Another pair of employees came out of a door next to us, saw Bucky laughing in uniform, and fled in the same direction as the others. That completely eliminated any more progress toward getting ourselves under control.

Two minutes later, I was gasping, trying to catch my breath as I got under control, and Bucky was trying to get me to stop laughing. An air vent clanged open and I shot out a bolt of energy without thinking, sending Clint flying through the air. Thankfully I also managed to catch him, and set him gently on the ground, the series of events sobering me up.

"What on Earth were you doing?" I asked Clint.

"It was the closest vent to you," Clint said. "I'll definitely use one that is farther away next time. Thanks for catching me."

"Why are you here, Barton?" Bucky asked, not unkindly. "Are we needed elsewhere?"

Clint waved him off and said, "some of our support staff ran past us in the hallway, almost running into Wanda. When they tried to apologize, all that we could really make out was 'Winter Soldier', 'Joule', and something about 'flamethrowers'? So Cap sent me to supervise."

I let out a derisive snort at that information, and Clint said, "yeah, I don't think he really thought that through. He got distracted by the next terrified group who said something about insane laughter. From what I heard on the way here, I can't say I blame them on that one."

"Steph was feeling a little down in the dumps, so I was trying to cheer her up. I told her everyone needs an element of surprise, and then asked her what she thought of flamethrowers. The first group of agents overheard us and got scared, that's all."

Clint's eyes lit up dangerously and he said, "flamethrowers are good. I think I also saw a prototype for a gun that shoots those mini-missiles of Stark's."

The two guys bent their heads together and I allowed myself a small moment of trepidation before deciding that at least it would be really difficult now for me to blow myself up, I followed them to the armory.


	29. A Battle on Two Fronts

**Chapter 29 - A Battle on Two Fronts**

 _ **Steve's POV**_

I watched as Steph left with Bucky, smiling at the image she made in her uniform. Walking over to all the stuff that Tony still had on the cart, I flipped through it quickly. What I saw was that almost all of it was multiples of the gear Steph had tried on, as well as numerous styles of holsters and gear belts, with at least three copies of each style for once Steph decided on her weapons and what she preferred.

I looked over at Tony and said, "I know you're trying to be out of this business, and this _was_ really fast. Thank you."

"I'm the best!" Tony said arrogantly, but then he sobered to add on to it. "Honestly, I may not be fighting anymore, but you all are still my family. I gotta make sure the new recruits stay safe, especially when this one means so much to _you_."

I smiled and nodded my gratitude to him before throwing caution to the wind and, after looking around to see that no one was really paying me any attention whispered, "how soon is too soon to say that you love someone?"

Shadows crossed Tony's face and he replied, "doing what we do? There's no such thing as too soon, as long as you're sure." We locked eyes, and Tony grinned asking, "you told me not too long ago that the guy who wanted a house, a wife, kids, and all that didn't come back out of the ice. Do you want to revise that statement?"

I shrugged and said, "right now, I just want Steph- that's enough. One step at a time, right?" Tony smacked me on the back and nodded in agreement, so I said, "now I have a few questions about some of FRIDAY's integration points and camera angles I thought we could go over?"

Tony nodded his head, and I started walking out the door, unsurprised when the rest of the group followed us. A rush of agents looking terrified from the direction in which Bucky and Steph had gone gave me a moment of pause, but when a second batch came by not much longer I looked at Clint and asked, "would you mind going and checking to make sure they haven't gotten into anything they shouldn't?"

As Clint scampered off, we continued walking, and Natasha let out a harsh laugh as she incredulously asked, "really? You send Clint of all people?"

I paused and replied, "okay, that probably wasn't the best idea."

" _Anyone_ else would have been a better choice," Rhodey agreed. "Except _maybe_ Tony."

"Hey!" Tony protested.

Sam cut in before he could argue further saying, "that first group was talking about flamethrowers. I don't even want to think of what you would have added to that conversation!"

"I'm choosing to find comfort in the fact that I don't think she will actually want anything to do with flamethrowers," I reasoned. "She's not that big of a fan of flames."

Tony snorted out a laugh that had me rolling my eyes to glare at him. He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender and said, "just seems like an understatement. Pretty much everything she owns was burned to a crisp not long ago. You could see where she wouldn't enjoy fire. Still, if she can absorb energy from it-"

He cut off when I interrupted him by showing him the concerns and weak points we'd identified with Jane and Darcy's help. After a couple hours, we were all set and Tony was on his way telling me to let FRIDAY know if Steph needed anything different, otherwise all her existing uniform pieces were added to the team's ordering lists and FRIDAY would track their levels.

Once he had taken off and been gone for a few minutes, I turned to the team and was about to suggest we meet up with Steph, Bucky, and Clint when the Assemble alarm went off. I took off running for the War Room to find Pietro had beat me there.

We were needed in Sokovia. In the wake of the events of Ultron, things had become even more tumultuous there. Several organizations were trying to take advantage of the disarray to try to set up shop in the torn country. In addition to our assistance with physical rebuilding, we'd offered to help the decimated police force for larger issues.

It seemed the Ten Rings, a terrorist organization, had stirred up another protest and what remained of the government was locked inside a building with the Head of State. This would be an easy mission for us, but there was no way we were leaving Wanda and Pietro behind. This was the land they had called home for most of their life. And Falcon, War Machine, and Vision were the base of our air support, freeing Thor to fight on land more than off, which meant...

I opened my mouth as soon as Clint, Bucky, and Steph- Joule, I mentally corrected myself- hit the room at a run.

"Joule, you're staying here. You're in charge while we're gone. Sorry, but you're not cleared for comms or strategy and maneuvers yet," I was frowning, expecting an argument.

What I got instead was a swift nod and a kiss on my cheek before she shifted into business mode. "Give me the run down while you guys get ready to go, and then I'll see you off. I'll head to the Command Center once you're in flight."

Black Widow and I traded off doing just that while we prepped ourselves, which went faster than usual because we were already in uniform. Less than ten minutes later, we were on the jet and on our way to Sokovia.

"You had to leave her, Cap," Black Widow murmured to me as we walked to the computer station a couple minutes after takeoff.

"She's right," I heard in surround sound from Wanda as well as Steph, who it seemed had already made it to the Command Center and figured out her comms.

I flipped the switch on the jet's communication center so I was talking to the entire staff at base as I relayed a reminder that Joule was currently the highest ranking person on base and everything was to go through her. Then as we continued the flight, we came up with an assault plan for our initial strike.

Even though FRIDAY's interface was different, Steph proved herself to be a wiz at searches. I could hear her leading that team quickly and efficiently to identify civilians versus suspected terrorists wherever possible. Knowing where the largest concentration of Ten Rings within the crowds was helped us immensely.

Once we were in Sokovia, things moved quickly. It took us about half an hour of fighting until I felt we were tipping the scales of being in control.

And that's when I heard it. An explosion rang through our comms with an excruciatingly shrill ring, but I hadn't heard it anywhere in the immediate vicinity.

"Joule, report!" I barked into the microphone on my uniform. When I didn't get an immediate response, I tried, "FRIDAY, Avengers HQ, someone give me a report!"

Silence reigned other than the sound of the rest of my teammates fighting. "I don't like it, Cap," Natasha said. "I'm all wrapped up here, I'm going to try to get a hold of Tony while I keep an eye on these politicians."

Before Natasha muted herself, FRIDAY's voice connected, "I apologize; my system at headquarters appears to be compromised. I am running backup protocols now."

"Avengers," I commanded. "Move faster."

It was another thirty minutes before we had all the fighting shut down and were working with the local police force and military to make sure they were secure. It was a painful process, and FRIDAY's updates had been minimal. Tony had been out at a late lunch meeting with Pepper, and had only received our distress notification twenty minutes after we'd lost contact with our base.

When Tony has arrived at HQ, it was in chaos with a hole blasted from the _inside_ out. He was assessing the situation as we set the Aven-Jet on its highest speed to make our way back to New York. Natasha was trying to raise Steph via cell phone, and I wasn't sure what Wanda was doing on hers. Thor was trying to call Jane, and when we were two minutes out, I could hear Clint successfully reach Darcy.

"Avengers," FRIDAY's voice sounded again after a too-long silence. "It appears a portal opened into my server room, and Sir has just managed to restore my onsite capabilities. We are searching through the video footage and running biometrics on everyone in the building at this time."

"Support staff first," I choked out.

As soon as we were done landing, I started running out of the jets. FRIDAY responded blissfully quickly with, "all those who should be in a safe room are accounted for and identities are verified."

Clint whispered something to Natasha and she nodded before looking at me and said, "Cap, you go with Clint and Thor; take Wanda with you. The rest of us will work with onsite staff. I'm lead."

I studied her and then tightened my jaw, knowing full well what that likely meant. I instructed FRIDAY to mute my microphone until further notice, but keep the audio playing in my ear, nodding to Clint. He strapped his bow onto his back once more, I did the same with my shield, and we took off at a run for the top in-house labs- those belonging to Dr. Cho and the team of Jane (aka Dr. Foster) and Dr. Selvig.

I put on a fresh burst of speed when we turned the corner and saw a giant hole blasted into the wall- big enough to have broken into both labs as well as their shared safe room. Darcy and Jane were trying to move big rocks with the help of additional staff, most notably Aaron, Danny, and Pat. There were several dead bodies around the hallway, mostly thrown against walks away from the the giant pile of debris. Closer inspection of the rock pile showed severed limbs and the remnants of multiple bodies. Through the rock I could just barely make out a faint glow of Steph's light blue energy, and I took off at a run yelling for FRIDAY to send Bucky as well if he could be spared.

Thor and I were hastily trying to move rubble off Steph without shifting it or having it collapse down on her any more. When Bucky arrived, War Machine was with him, but left after talking to Wanda. Clint was talking to Jane with a sobbing Darcy in his arms, and once we started to get closer to Steph, I heard him call for Dr. Cho to be sent in.

We cleared the last rock over Steph's face, and I immediately shoved a hand into the gap made and felt for a pulse. My knees went weak with relief as I said, "she's got a pulse, and she's breathing, but it doesn't sound right."

The rest of the team started to materialize, and I blurted out to Natasha while I worked, "status?"

"Whoever attacked seems to have taken their dead with them, so we'll have to ID through video. Although I see you have some bodies here, so we'll start processing immediately. All our staff are accounted for, and Tony is overseeing the last of the biometric confirmations. War Machine is on his way to meet up with Daniel Rand now, and will be bringing him back shortly. Steph's the only casualty; apparently she took this wing under her own protection. There were multiple points needing protection and we're understaffed, so she took it alone."

We fished uncovering Steph and I had to force myself to move aside so Sam and Dr. Cho could quickly strap her onto a backboard. Once she was secure, Bucky and I moved forward again, and picked her up, carrying her toward medical at a brisk pace.

Clint walked next to me and muttered, "Darcy, Eric, and Jane were trying to work in the lab as long as possible to figure out the portal- it was one of the rooms they'd put sensors in, but they hadn't finished calibrating them. At the time, it hadn't been shut yet, and-"

I cut him off with a nod and said, "that takes precedence; Steph probably sent the largest staff to the portal site and took it upon herself to secure the means for shutting it down."

"She had told us she'd buy as much time as possible, so when she yelled at us to get in the room, we went," Darcy sobbed. "She was watching us to make sure the door was shut not long before the explosion happened. That was just after FRIDAY came back online and told us the portal was closed, so once we had an all-clear Jane and I started trying to get her out and medical went to start triage..."

Darcy trailed off with a sniff, and Jane softly asked, "is she going to be okay? Why did she stop glowing?"

"She didn't stop until we got the last of the rocks off her torso, so it's probably a good thing," I replied as steadily as I could. "She'll be fine, but we could really use anything you can figure out-"

"On the portal," Darcy said, giving Clint's arm a squeeze then moving to usher Jane back in the direction I'd seen Dr. Selvig trying to get some machines running again when we'd arrived.

"She was protecting them," Thor said quietly. "I shall go get a healer from Asgard."

"It was her job," Wanda said from next to Steph, speaking for the first time though her eyes glowed red and she was focusing a stream of energy into Steph's head. "Daniel will be here sooner than Dr. Cho can do any more than the basics of getting her stable, so we won't need a healer. Steph wants Daniel to work on her."

"Are you talking to her now?" I asked. When Wanda nodded, I tried to keep my voice strong as I said, "tell her she did good, and I'll be here waiting for her when she wakes up."

"We all will," Natasha said. "Operations will be running out of here until at least tomorrow, as the Command Center took a pretty good hit with a grenade or two. So she's not getting out of debrief tonight."

"She can hear you," Wanda said. Then the red glow went away temporarily as she laughed, holding her stomach. As soon as she could, she held her hands out again. She turned to look at me, however, as she said, "Steph is agreeable but she wants an hour with Steve or a gallon of sugar first."

I frowned, "she never did explain that to me."

"Apparently I wasn't supposed to say that last part out loud. Which, in my defense, Steph, you didn't tell me!"

There was a benevolent smile on Wanda's face for several minutes, along with a few chuckles, and I looked at everyone else to see if they were as amused as I was by the two conversing in this manner.

 _ **Steph's POV**_

It was difficult watching the team, and Steve in particular, go away on a mission without me. I knew I wasn't supposed to think about Steve as Steve in these situations. To me, he had to be what he was to everyone else- Captain America. But still, inside of Cap was my Steve, and I didn't want to have him get hurt, or worse, out in the field.

Regardless of that fact, I had a job to do. As I was running through the base for the Command Center, I felt a bad case of nerves hit me. I was in charge. If something went wrong, it would ultimately be my responsibility. And although my teammates seemed certain they would, I was unsure that the staff would actually listen to me.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the door to the Command Center. I was not expected to be greeted by just a couple seconds of clapping and cheering and a clearly hastily made "Welcome, Joule" sign. Because it was such a friendly gesture, I took a moment to call out my thanks.

Even before I finished, Danny ran up to me. "Okay, this is yours; I'm sorry we only just finished getting it set up for you today and you're not used to it yet. We had to work with R&D to make some modifications to the design and materials used in deference to your ability. You shouldn't be able to melt this one, for instance." So saying, he handed me an earpiece, which I slipped into place easily. I was immediately calmed by being able to hear the team's chatter, and by the smile he gave me, Danny understood that. Next, he pointed out where the microphone was, built into my uniform, and told me all I had to do was ask FRIDAY to connect it. Technically I was on a different network than the team, but because it was all run by FRIDAY there would be virtually no delay. He seemed to want to explain that to me further, but I stopped him by offering a response to the team- reassuring Cap that I knew why I was on base at HQ rather than in the field.

Frankly, I didn't want to be in the field until they were certain I was as trained as I needed to be. There was no part of me that felt left out- I was just worried.

"Alright!" I had FRIDAY mute me and called out to the room, "I'm the new kid on the block, so I'm going to need your help. If you think I'm doing something wrong or forgetting anything, tell me. Now, you all know what to do without me here, so let me help where I'll be most able. Who is running searches on the crowd?"

I had a speed training session on the Avengers' set-up which was outrageously thorough and invasive. Still, I opened comms back up and steadily fed intel to the team. Things went well and the team was starting to get the upper hand, well on their way to being done actually surprisingly quickly when there was a huge booming sound and the lights flickered and went out.

Thank God I'd studied all those emergency protocols so carefully. I waited only a beat before calling out, "FRIDAY, report."

Silence fell on the room when we didn't get a response, and Danny started to leave, insisting he'd check the servers. "Danny, you're taking Alpha Team with you. You find out what's going on, but your primary mission is to report back as quickly as possible so we know which protocol to go with."

"Alright, backup generators aren't on," I announced, even though it was obvious. Knowing we were still shorthanded, and I only had 32 security specialists to work with, broken into teams of four, I quickly worked out a priority listing in my head of where to put them as they filtered in at a run. I really hoped I chose correctly and no one died on my watch. "Bravo Team, as soon as we know the situation, you're on evacs to safe rooms. Charlie Team, you're holding this Command Center for as long as you can, but you give it up if you need to."

Everyone was nodding and calling out suggestions and what little information they had when Danny came running back in, a little pale. "There's a portal in there. Enemy troops coming through; they're not identifiable. They do appear to be human, though highly trained."

"Okay," I said calmly. "Portal Protocol Three in effect- primary focus is on closing the portal as quickly as possible. We don't have FRIDAY helping, so you all need to watch your backs and make sure you stay in your teams- I want at least two but would prefer all four people together at all times. Alpha and Delta Teams, you're with me on our way to the labs. Echo and Foxtrot, secure HQ inside- you're sweeping constantly and taking out any infiltrators you come across. We'd like to have people we are able to question if possible. Golf, and Hotel, I want you to verify that the armory is locked down. Once it is, Golf you stay there, and Hotel, you're on the warehouse. Everyone else, you know your jobs. It's harder without FRIDAY, but you do your best. Guns out. You're here because we trust you to do the job. Questions?"

"No, ma'am!" echoed around me.

"Alright, move people!" I took off at a run, Alpha and Delta teams forming a sort of flying "v," a la _Mighty Ducks_ behind me. When we reached the labs, I told them to secure the area as I walked in. I had braced myself for having to pull the safe room open and ask Doctors Foster and Selvig to leave their safe haven and step back into danger. The reality of the situation, however, was that they were already working.

Darcy skidded to a stop in front of me, looked me over from head to toe, and said, "nice duds, Joule. Those glasses are badass- is she human? Is she cyborg? You won't be telling from her eyes; they're hidden!"

"Thanks Darcy," I said quickly. "Do they know what caused the portal?"

"So you can confirm it is a portal?" Jane looked up at me.

"Yes, Dr. Foster," I said. "It's in FRIDAY's hub, and at last update it was still open. We need to close it ASAP. What have you got for me?"

There were various explosions and gunfire could be heard at irregular intervals. I had to trust that my teams were good at their jobs and try to block it out as I couldn't get reports from anyone. "Okay, that Server Room is going to be the source of most of our problems. Alpha and Delta teams, I want you on that situation. I will stay here and protect Dr. Foster, Dr. Selvig, and Ms. Lewis." Turning to the two scientists, and the Avengers' Assistant who seemed to clearly know what they needed from her to help them, I said. "You work on that portal as long as possible, but if I tell you to get in the safe room, you go without hesitating. Okay?"

"What about you?" Darcy asked wide eyed.

I smiled at her and let my energy flow through my body- welcoming two orbs of energy out, one in each hand. "Trial by fire," I retorted. "Good thing I don't seem to be able to get burned anymore."

Alpha and Delta Teams spared a glance at my hands, and when they looked back up, I met each of their eyes and said, "keep them off us as best you can. I've got this."

I got another chorus of "yes ma'am!" and took a few seconds as they were running out and the area was still relatively secure to run up to the door of the safe room and tap in a code to have a video monitor pop up showing me the inside. Dr. Cho's face immediately filled the camera's view and I said, "the doctors and Ms. Lewis are out here- we're on Portal Protocol Three, so they're with me as long as possible. Your team should be prepared to set up triage when this is over."

I didn't wait for a response, just nodded resolutely and turned back into the labs. Turning to Darcy I announced, "I know, resources are limited, but do what you can. I'm opening the door so I can hear you, but I'll be in the hall. The team knows they lost communication with us, so they'll be back as soon as they can."

For the next stretch of time that felt like only seconds, teams of two bad guys would sporadically come down the hallway. Those were easy to dispatch. Finally I heard the most glorious sound- my earpiece coming to life with FRIDAY's voice. "I'm not connected to the larger network yet, but your onsite communication channels are active and on Emergency Mode."

From that point, I could at least hear the teams calling in status updates. When I heard reports of Iron Man approaching, a little tension drained from me. That was until the leader of the Alpha Team called out, "Joule, you've got incoming. And they're packing heavy firepower. Portal is closed. Repeat: portal is closed."

"Jane, Eric, Darcy- get in that safe room!" I hollered through the door. "I've got incoming, and the portal is closed!"

Ten men rounded the corner, and I started fighting. Using my powers first on the ones furthest out, and switching to hand to hand when the remaining two made it to me. I put the last one down and turned back just in time to see Darcy's face before the door clicked shut, locking them in safely.

Unfortunately, that momentary distraction was enough to give my enemy a bad opening. I reloaded my gun as another group cleared the corner, not really stopping to think about why they threw the rest of their comrades closer, just firing. I'd made it through about half the group when a guy in a red shirt and khakis pulled something out of his hand. Looking me dead in the eyes, he said, "Au revoir, Joule."

He pushed a button in his hand as he turned on his heel to walk away, and I tried to put up a shield around myself, knowing it was too late. There was a deafening noise, heat, and then I felt a crushing weight land on me. Darkness fell.

I didn't know how long I was out before a red light came to me in the darkness, "Steph?"

That was Wanda's voice. I tried to open my mouth, but I quickly realized I had no control over my body. Instead I focused my brain on the light and thought the word, "Wanda."

She sounded more relieved as she said, "you did good. We are here. Even now we work to get you out of there."

"Where am I?"

"You're at the Avengers facility."

"What happened?"

"We do not know yet, but you did well." She responded, her voice getting stronger to me as the weight I was only mildly aware of on me seemed to slowly lessen.

"How many did we lose?"

"None," Wanda said.

"Oh good, just me then," I said allowing darkness to envelop me again as the pain came back hotter and more intense than ever.

"You're going to be-" was all I heard for an unknown space of time after that.

The next time I became aware of myself, I was in a similar state, but I could hear more than just Wanda's voice. Steve was there, I realized with relief. I tried to focus on the conversation, even got a few thoughts out through Wanda, but still couldn't move, open my eyes, or speak.

Everything went quiet again suddenly, but I was still aware, and it caused me to panic. Then, from very close I heard, Steve say, "Steph, I'm still here. Everyone else just moved out so that Dr. Cho could work on you in more privacy. Daniel's on his way here, but he's a few minutes away and Dr. Cho needs to reinflate your lung."

That didn't sound good, but I figured it was better than a deflated lung and I couldn't do anything about it. Still, it was good to know why I'd stopped being able to hear the team. Oddly, I realized that there was medical chatter around me, I'd just been tuning it out the whole time. Although I didn't really want to know the specifics, it was good to hear at least a hum of activity, especially when Steve told me he had to back up to give them room to work.

I allowed myself to float a little longer, deciding to conserve strength. Dr. Cho must have done whatever it was because although the pain was still there, I started feeling less like every moment of _being_ was a struggle. In fact, in that moment, I was able to touch my energy again. I'd barely begun to try to manipulate it within myself when I felt another presence.

It was Daniel, and I could hear him say, "that's right Steph, it's me." Then he must have been speaking to Steve because he added, "she's doing well. She almost has her lung and ribs completely healed on her own, though I'm not sure how aware she was that she was doing it."

After that, his voice was entirely in my head once more, much like Wanda's had been, and he started guiding me. I don't know how long it took, but eventually I was able to open my eyes and groan. Steve was sitting against the wall directly across from me, and there were scattered remnants of a few cups of coffee as well as at least one Super Soldier sized meal on a small table next to him. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be at least trying to sleep, but as soon as I made that pained noise, his eyes shot open.

I could see the relief in his face when he saw me looking at him, and when I gave him a small smile, he closed his eyes and I thought he might be praying. Then his gaze found mine again, and he smiled wide before saying, "FRIDAY, she's awake; let the others know."

I felt a gentle hand tug my face around, and found Daniel. Quietly he said, "you're doing well, but we have more work to do now. Reunions later."

Over the course of another couple of hours, Daniel quietly murmured instructions and we worked on each of my pains in turn. By the time we were done, Daniel looked worn out, so I held out a hand to him. When he took it, I murmured, "thank you," and instinctively pushed a healthy dose of my energy from me into him.

"Thank you," Daniel said eyes clearly pleased and looking instantly more, for lack of a better word, energetic. "Today was a lot. Call me in a couple weeks, and we'll set up another session. In the meantime, take some time each day to meditate and focus on your life energy."

Then he bowed and walked away. I could hear Steve whisper something to him, and then the silence. After a moment, I started trying to sit up, and Steve came rushing over.

"Slow," he warned, sliding a hand behind my back and helping me get upright.

I barked out a laugh and said, "I feel just fine, but I'll let you hover if you need to."

"Thanks," Steve said dryly. "I'd appreciate that. Do you remember what happened?"

"Au revoir, Joule," I said. "Then he blew up like ten of his people."

Steve had tensed and he said, "I didn't know you spoke French."

"I don't," I replied, "that's what he said. I think he was the leader- khakis and a red shirt, big old tactical vest over it. His hair was buzz cut. Didn't try to fight me himself, just sent the first batch in. I made sure Jane, Darcy, and Erik… I mean Dr. Foster, Ms. Lewis, and Dr. Selvig… were in the safe room after I got the first group of men eliminated, and when I turned back around he was there with another group. That was the only thing I heard him say."

Steve sighed and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Keeping his left arm around me, he fiddled with the phone before putting the screen in front of me. "That him?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. "You know who it is then."

"We've met" Steve said. He slowly slid his arm out from behind me and stood once more, turning to assess me. "Are you sure you're ready to be up?"

"Giant explosion, Steve," I reminded him. "I may have been out because of injuries, but I think my body was just focusing on healing. That explosion was like someone gave me fresh, high-capacity batteries. I don't hurt anymore, thanks to Daniel, and I have so much energy inside of me."

His eyes were studying mine and he clearly saw the honesty in them because he nodded his head and then helped me to my feet. Because his hands were still hovering, I rolled my eyes and started doing jumping jacks with raised brows. Of course, that was how Dr. Cho found me, and she laughed saying, "honestly, Steph. Couldn't you at least pretend to need me? Pretty soon they'll realize I'm not needed here and they'll send me back to Korea. And I just finished unpacking."

"Sorry, Doc," I said before sitting sedately on the table while she took my vitals. When she finished, I cheekily asked, "what's the verdict? Am I going to live?"

Dr. Cho's initial response was a sigh followed by, "well, now I know you're one of them."

Steve chuckled at that and handed me a sports bra, which I quickly pulled on. It seemed they'd had to cut my bra off to reinflate my lung, but my pants had stayed on and they'd covered me with a blanket before Daniel had arrived. Once I had the bra on, I asked, "why do you say that?"

As though answering my question, Natasha appeared knocking on the wall and raising a brow at the sight of me standing as she said, "so, what's the verdict, Doc? She going to make it?"


	30. Motives

**Chapter 30 - Motives**

 _ **Steve's POV**_

Once Steph had pulled her shirt on as well, I helped her stand once again and put my hand on her back to lead her out of the medical room. Because she had been receiving treatment and unconscious, FRIDAY had made the wall to the medical suite frosted. As soon as we rounded the corner and people looked up to see Steph they immediately started clapping. It was endearing to note the way her face flushed bright red at the attention, which she believed to be unwarranted.

Steph started walking towards the gathering of staff as though she was expecting to be briefed, so instead I steered her back to the hall. When she realized we were walking in the direction of our living quarters, Steph looked up at me and said, "I thought I had to debrief first."

"I seem to remember you requesting either an hour of my time or a gallon of sugar before debrief," I smiled down at her. "My only requirement is that you explain how sugar comes into the equation at all. That's not the first time you've alluded to whatever this is."

"FRIDAY, please cease monitoring this conversation," Steph started. She waited until FRIDAY acknowledged the command to continue, "On a number of occasions I have attempted to give up eating sugar, but every time I have, I've discovered that doing so… let's just say that my body needs to find something with which to replace the previously high levels of sugar input, and the thing it chooses is intimacy."

"I'm sorry, so if you stop eating sugar, you get…" I trailed off, trying to figure out which word to use.

Of course, Steph had no such problem and filled in the blank with "horny. Yes, insatiably so." She smiled over at me in a way that could only be described as dirty and added, "Past partners haven't been able to keep up with me, but I don't think you'd have that problem."

By that point in time, we were walking into the bedroom, so I picked Steph up and pushed her gently against the door saying, "I'm fairly certain you're right, but anytime you want to give that a try, let me know."

I started putting Steph back down, and she cocked her head to the side and asked, "what exactly do you think you're doing? Are you seriously opting for the giving me tons of sugar right now option instead of the sex option? Because from what I hear about adrenaline, shouldn't we be having life-affirming sex right now?"

"Steph, you were just unconscious not very long ago," I reasoned.

"Yeah, but I'm fine now. Got cleared by the doctor and everything, so..."

She finished the sentence with a wiggle of the eyebrows, but I still held off, "I'm just not sure how gentle I can be-"

She cut me off by taking my mouth in a fast paced, hard kiss. It didn't take long for her to have me seeing her point of view, and we spent our hour hardly ever more than an inch apart. I wanted to memorize the way her body felt until no matter what happened I was sure I would never forget what it was like to be with Steph in every way possible.

Afterward, we took a few minutes to shower, which was difficult given that we were both still clinging to each other.

"You're going to have to tell us everything you remember," I told her. "Then you're going to have to sit there and go through the video with us."

Steph shuddered against me, and asked, "there's video?"

"Of the end, yes. After FRIDAY regained partial operational capabilities."

"Have you seen it?" She asked, causing me to do a whole body flinch. Steph felt it, and pulled my head down to give me a kiss, "I'm okay, and I'm sorry you had to see it."

"I'm sorry it happened," I shot back.

"We need more people on staff," Steph groaned. "This place is too big to be easily defensible when the team is out. At least I was here, but if I had been gone…"

"I know, Steph. But it's so hard right now to find people we trust who are willing to come back. Out of those we comfortably know aren't HYDRA, most don't want anything to do with us even though we aren't SHIELD. And then there are those who would maybe go back to SHIELD, but don't like the idea of the Avengers. Add in Ultron, and, well, knowing we need more staff and actually getting some in place are two different things."

Steph went completely still from where she was pressed against me, and I turned off the water, reaching out of the shower for the towels. When I handed hers over, she started moving again, and finally said, "I might know a guy and he's got some guys I've trusted with my life too many times to count."

"And it seems three of my other teammates have as well," I replied steadily. "Is that something you think he and his men would be interested in? I mean, they have lives in Trenton, right? This is pretty much a live-in gig."

"I have absolutely no idea, actually," Steph said slowly. "But I could float the idea if the team was interested."

"When we were in Stark's Avengers Tower, Maria Hill ran our operations from that base, and she was head of security there. Still is, actually. She does stop by here from time to time, but it would be nice to have someone dedicated to this facility," I reasoned.

"And would you, Steve, be okay with Ranger, in particular, being here?" she studied my face carefully. "Because none of the rest of them are coming without him."

"Steph, you told me I had nothing to worry about, so unless that's changed-"

"It hasn't!" Steph hastily reassured me.

"And I trust you, so I would be fine with it," I told her, "if they were even interested."

"Do you want me to ask?"

"Let's talk to the team, but I think it's worth a try."

Steph had been paused, in just her underwear, watching me get dressed. I was about to ask what the holdup is, but realized she was waiting for me to get a cue on exactly what she should be wearing at this point. I grabbed a clean set of my uniform pants out of the closet and tossed a pair of hers to her. I pulled on the uniform pants and a workout shirt, and watched as Steph pulled the clean sports bra she'd worn out of medical back on then put one of those tank tops with super thin straps on over it.

We both grabbed up our dirty uniforms and switched our weapons over before dumping them in the laundry.

"I have a uniform in your closet already?" Steph asked.

I nodded then couldn't stop myself, even though I'd resolved to not mention it, from asking, "I like having you here, and I'd like you to stay. But, do you want your own room? Your own space? We have plenty- we haven't even opened up the second floor of this Avengers quarters setup yet."

"I can leave if you want, but I'd rather stay," came her easy reply.

"Then stay," I said smiling and giving her a kiss, "but that means it's _our_ room and _our_ closet, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed happily.

"Now let's get moving; we've kept the others waiting long enough."

As soon as we walked in, heads turned our way, and Natasha smirked saying, "that was an hour and a half."

I just shrugged, and said, "we never agreed on a time."

"How is it," Bucky mused to the room at large, "that Steve looks like he slept because he looks nowhere near as exhausted as he was before they left, but Steph looks like they did plenty of things other than sleep?"

"Not cool," Steph moved quickly over and hissed at him. "This isn't just the team in here."

Bucky looked suitably chastised, so I didn't say anything. But I did watch as Steph raised her hand up to his face slowly. When she decided he wasn't going to bat her away, her eyes shimmered blue for a second and then she dropped her hand. Bucky's eyes were wide, and he said, "holy shit. How'd you do that? I feel like I just had a gallon of coffee, you know, back when that used to do something for me."

Steph just shrugged and asked, "anyone else need a hit? I'm massively overcharged right now, and it's driving me a little batty."

Everyone on the team who wasn't Thor or Vision raised their hands, so Steph went around and passed out some energy. Even though Tony didn't raise his hand, and was clearly trying to stay a little bit separate, she walked over to him and repeated the process. "Thanks for the uniform," she said. "Turns out I needed it sooner than expected. How is it that this still works after I had, from what I understand was most of a couple of walls and the ceiling on me?"

Tony studied the phone that she was holding up and grinned saying, "because I'm the best!" Then he sobered a little and gave Steph a once over before saying, "you're pretty damn good too, definitely worthy of that logo."

Steph looked over at the group of employees, who I noticed represented about a third of those employed on site, and loudly said, "I had the best support I could have possibly hoped for here with me; that's how everyone came out okay. Now, I can't heal you all like I did myself, and sleep is good. Most days I don't have this kind of energy to spare, but I think it was a pretty big explosion so if anyone else wants a hit of energy…"

Everyone stared at her wide eyed, and she looked at me as though terrified that she'd made a faux pas. I smiled reassuringly, and when I saw Danny in the background gather up the courage to raise his hand, I gestured to him. Steph smiled in delight and made a beeline for him. He looked nervous as all hell, but allowed her to touch his face anyway while she murmured her thanks for his help. He'd been looking a little pale, and when we'd walked in had been first on my mental list to rotate off shift. As soon as Steph was done though, he perked right up.

Seeing the instant change, as well as the fact that he seemed undamaged, several others raised their hands. Not all, but most ended up allowing Steph to feed energy into them, and with each she paused to offer her thanks. In fact, she took a moment to offer words of gratitude briefly to each person she passed who didn't want to take her up on her offer as well.

When she was done, she moved back over to the table the Avengers were surrounding and plopped herself into a chair at the end of one side. Her hand popped out and she drew a large blue orb into it and just bounced it up and down. It was a behavior I hadn't seen before, so I assessed her carefully.

This was her first mission, and so far she'd seemed to be handling it just fine. We'd made love aggressively, and out of the two of us she actually seemed to have needed it more. Nothing had broken, but I was fairly certain that was because she was gaining more control of her powers by the day. And what control she'd developed would have been at heightened levels after she'd used it so exactingly in battle.

"Are you okay, Steph?" I asked quietly, taking up the seat at the head of the table right next to the orb, showing everyone that there was nothing to be concerned about.

She looked at me in surprise until I glanced pointedly at the orb. Then, she blushed and drew it back into her hand quickly. Wanda's eyes glowed red, and I got the sense they were conversing briefly. So I waited until they were done to point at where Bucky was sharpening his knives, Natasha was cleaning her guns obsessively, and Thor was whirling his hammer and tossing it between hands occasionally. When her gaze reached mine again, I kindly said, "it's fine. I just wanted to check before we got started as that isn't something we usually see you doing. This process probably isn't going to be easy for you; it's your first time through, and it can get a bit frustrating."

Steph snorted out a laugh and said, "first time through with you guys, sure. I doubt it's going to be all that different than going through what happened with stalkers, serial killers, etc. with Rangeman or the cops. And let's not forget the time they locked me in that interrogation room for twenty hours, asking me the same questions on repeat. At least you all like me." She nervously glanced at Thor. It was quick, but definitely noticeable, especially after she added, "for the most part."

"Warrior Joule," Thor boomed out. In a tone that managed to all at once reflect urgency, affability, and sincerity, he said, "I have spoken to my lady, Jane, as well as to Darcy about what you did for them. I have also reviewed the films of your great battle. You protected them both and provided a service for which I will always be indebted to you. Furthermore, you fought valiantly and in a manner worthy of being the Captain's mate. You have done us all proud, and I harbor no more reservations about your place on the team. I am grateful to have you, and I hope you can forgive the manner in which I behaved when we first met. I look forward to the battles we shall fight together for years to come."

Steph flushed bright red at the word "mate", and I had to bury my face in my hands to keep from meeting anyone else's gaze or laughing. Still, she stammered out, "thanks, Thor… I look forward to doing battle with you as well."

The last ended in an upward tone that clearly came across as half question, but I figured it was more that she wasn't sure how to react to his manner of speaking, so I added a "hear, hear!" that was echoed by the team. Then I reached over to Steph, picked up her hand and put it back into the position she'd originally had it. With my hands, I made a sphere and moved them outwards to show it growing. Gratitude was written all over Steph's face as she drew the orb back outside of her body once more.

We started the debrief with the Sokovia mission. For the most part, the team had already covered it, but we went through everything again for Steph's mission, and I fleshed out my own debrief a little. Steph had questions about what had happened after she'd lost contact with us, and we happily answered them for her.

When we got all the way through the end of the Sokovia mission, we turned to Steph expectantly. She picked it up telling us about losing power. When she mentioned Danny and the alpha team, we called Danny and their leader over to give us their recounting of what they'd found on the approach to the server room and when they managed to look inside.

Danny finished by looking at Steph and saying, "thank you for sending Alpha team with me; I wouldn't have made it on my own."

Steph nodded her head, and simply said, "you're welcome."

After a few additional questions, we sent them on their way, but asked that they make themselves, and the rest of Alpha team, available over the next couple of days at request by Drs. Foster and Selvig to answer questions about the portal.

We continued to go through everything up until the large assault on Steph's position had happened. Before we started that, Steph held up a finger asking us to wait. No one said anything, just studied Steph as she drew her energy orb back inside then closed her eyes and did some deep breathing. When she opened them again, her eyes were clear without a trace of the glowing so I deemed it appropriate to start up the conversation again.

As wasn't particularly uncommon, there were bits that Steph couldn't quite remember and we glossed past them, getting her entire story recorded. Once that was done, we started reviewing the video we had. Given how long FRIDAY had been out, there really wasn't a lot to watch.

Still, it was extremely difficult to watch repeatedly, from multiple angles, as Batroc hit the button, attempting to blow Steph up and burying her under the rubble. What seemed to surprise Steph was when he turned back after the explosion and stood there for several seconds waiting for the smoke to clear before leaving. When we re-watched it from numerous angles, Steph's hand found mine under the table and we offered each other comfort. It never got easier to see.

Steph also seemed taken aback by how quickly it all happened, murmuring, "it seemed like it was so much longer."

We all nodded, and Natasha said, "there was a lot going on all at once. You were processing it all so quickly, but when you go back and replay it in your mind, you slow it down to help you understand it."

Steph hummed in agreement then turned to look between Clint and Bucky as she asked, "do you think you could teach me to shoot with my _left_ hand? I'd like to be able to have the gun out when necessary while also having my right hand free for my energy. But I'm thinking the energy is primary, so I'd like to keep that on my dominant side if possible."

Bucky looked over at Clint and answered lazily, "I think we can handle that."

"And it's a good idea," Clint agreed before teasing. "I thought you didn't like guns though?"

"Yeah, well, I still don't. But that might have gone a lot worse without, so I'm willing to concede the point and throw myself into training."

Everyone nodded happily at that information, and we continued with questions for several minutes. Finally it was Steph who said bluntly, "we need more people to secure this place. The people we have are great, but the facility is just too large. Especially if we end up having to go dark again."

"There's one name that pops to mind," Sam casually put out there. "But I think you're the only one who has a chance of getting him to say, 'yes,' Steph."

Steph looked over at me and I nodded, offering to the team an official agreement, "Steph and I discussed that, and she's willing to approach him on the matter if we're all in agreement."

Clint leaned over and whispered urgently to Thor, explaining the history of Ranger and Steph and how he'd saved her on numerous occasions.

"Hey, do I have security clearance now?" Steph asked.

Natasha grinned and said, "you should know, it was in the giant stack of NDAs and related documents you signed."

"So that's a yes?" I nodded, and Steph grinned, "what's the team policy on using it to look up friends?"

I tapped her on the nose and said, "no. But if he decides to join, he'll have to go through a background check and The Lie Detector just like everyone else."

"Dibs!" Steph yelled raising her hand. "For all of them!"

There were chuckles around the room, but when she looked at me, I just nodded my agreement. After all, we needed Ranger and his men, so I was willing to give Steph as many types of motivation on the matter as I could. Steph saw my nod, and rubbed her hands together eagerly, so I looked around the room and asked, "are we all in agreement?"

I got affirmations from everyone and we continued on with our analysis of the battle within headquarters, including a summary from Tony of how things had gone with FRIDAY's system and adjustments he planned to make. We were winding down when Darcy came stumbling in wearing pajamas and slippers with her laptop balanced in one arm and her tablet in another.

"Guys, we have a problem."

"Lady Darcy, you should be sleeping," Thor insisted.

Darcy just shrugged and said, "I couldn't, Big Guy."

Steph walked over and waited for Darcy to settle into a chair before she put a hand on her face and sent some power into the clearly sleepy assistant. "Damn, Steph. You gotta find a way to bottle that for me!" Darcy insisted. "Or maybe don't… that could easily be ten times as addictive as caffeine."

"What's the problem, Darce?" I asked concerned.

Darcy tapped on her tablet several times, and said, "I think this one is best."

On the table in front of each of us appeared a video, and the audio played throughout the room.

There was a news anchor sitting solo at a desk with a box to her left that read "Sad News from the Avengers."

" _Well, we hardly had time to speculate about the powers or skills that the newest Avenger, Joule, might have,"_ said a somber news anchor. " _New video has surfaced of who, an exclusive source tells us, is Joule. The video is short, but it appears to show her putting up a skilled fight before getting caught in a large explosion. When the smoke clears, there is a pile of rubble, and our source confirms that Joule was buried under the pile, dead within a week of joining the ranks of the Avengers. We here at ABC news would like to offer our condolences to the Avengers team, and Captain America in particular. Now, we will show you the video of the incident, but we would like to warn our viewers that it contains extreme violence and may not be suitable for all audiences."_

"WHAT?!" Steph squeaked out in disbelief.

Silence fell as we watched the video the news station had, and Steph slammed her hand on the table at the end, shooting to her feet and growling, "their source is Batroc!" She spat his name out like it tasted bad in her mouth, and I couldn't blame her. Instead, I just drew her gently back down into her chair.

"Batroc's a mercenary," I said.

"One who gives mercenaries everywhere a bad name," Steph said bitterly, crossing her arms over the chest.

"He's not the only one who does so, Steph," Clint said. "You're just lucky that the set you happen to know is filled with exceptional men. There are things you couldn't pay them to do."

"On the other hand," Natasha said, "you would be extremely hard pressed to find anything you _couldn't_ pay Batroc to do."

"So you think someone with portal technology paid Batroc to attack our base and take video of it?"

"There's been speculation about our location for months now out there," I steadily explained. "we knew we were on borrowed time for being found, so that's not a surprise. And yes, someone probably paid him to get video of our defense setup. I would guess the delay in the assault was mostly because of how long it took for the news to pick up that we were in Sokovia. Once they were sure we were gone, they would have sent him in. He's probably been waiting for the perfect opportunity, and he likely got a bonus for getting footage of your powers."

"Do you think he gets a bonus for killing me?" Steph asked curiously.

"Not without bringing your dead body with him," Natasha said in an offhand manner.

I looked at Natasha in disbelief, then back at Steph's whose jaw had gone slack and was now looking extremely pale.

"She's kidding," Clint said, sounding not at all convincing.

When Steph turned to me, I took a deep breath and frowned at Natasha as I said, "no, she wasn't, but she _was_ being needlessly flippant."

"You need to release a statement," Darcy urged. "And please don't use 'rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.' A) it's a misquote and B) it's been overdone."

"Okay," I agreed easily. "Would you like to write one?"

"I dictated something to FRIDAY on my way over," Darcy pursed her lips and focused on her screen for a few minutes. Then she read out, "There was an assault on the Avengers Facility yesterday, however, we are pleased to report that none of the employees were seriously injured or killed in the assault. At this time, we will confirm that the Avenger in the video is Joule, and would like to emphasize that she was not killed and our medical staff is confident of her quick, complete recovery."

Steph met my eyes and nodded, and I looked at everyone else who seemed to be in agreement as well. "That's great, Darcy, thanks."

"People will want to know why she wasn't in Sokovia," Darcy said.

"The Avengers do not comment on their mission strategies, and are glad that Joule was available at headquarters to assist during the attack," Tony provided from several feet away sounding bored.

"They'll also want to see her," Darcy added.

"Unless she is needed for a mission before then, Joule will make her first public appearance at the Smithsonian Exhibit Opening and Charity Gala as previously scheduled," I replied easily.

"You got it, Cap!" Darcy said. "Steph, do you want to have a separate statement?"

"No," Steph quickly responded.

"Okay, then we'll just share the team's statement on your social media accounts for now, but I would like to request that you do put in some time on those later today or tomorrow at the absolute latest. Thank people for their support and well wishes. That kind of thing, but in your terms."


	31. Recruiting Ranger

**Chapter 31 - Recruiting Ranger**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

The days after the mission in Sokovia and the attack on the base were packed with lots to do. Workers had to be brought in to do repair work, and although we were pulling them from the groups who had worked on the facility before the Avengers moved in, they still had to be vetted again. During that process, I found myself introduced to the operation of the Lie Detector. Apparently, the team wanted me to sit in on as many as possible with either Clint or Natasha asking the questions. Both of them were well versed in giving the tests and knowing where to push harder at the person being questioned, and I had my newly enhanced spidey sense to provide extra insight.

In addition to those interviews, I was scheduling in time to train on the remaining areas I needed before becoming a fully fledged Avenger. Thankfully, I wasn't really sleeping, so that gave me extra time to train. It started the first night after the attack, with me waking from a nightmare to find Steve already awake from one of his own. I was still overcharged, and Steve was used to lack of sleep before I came around, so we talked briefly about our nightmares, then decided to get up.

And we started with the jet flying because Steve knew I was nervous about it, and would be wary of working with Clint or Natasha. As much as I didn't want to crash a jet with Steve in it, well, the truth of the matter was that Steve could survive a crash. He'd already done it. I was relieved to learn that I wasn't going to need to be able to fly it at supersonic speed, and that 90% of the time, FRIDAY handled the piloting. Someone on board just needed to know how to fly, "just in case." When I'd thought about arguing over needing to learn, I remembered _why_ Steve had crashed. If he'd known how to fly the plane he was in, he might have been able to come up with an alternate solution.

It also helped that Tony had actually built a Quinjet simulator that ran with FRIDAY, and I could do the majority of training in that.

Regardless, it was a few days before I managed to sneak my way back into Trenton. Courtesy of CliTasCky, I settled myself into Ranger's office unnoticed, kicked my feet back, and waited. Thirty minutes later and right on schedule, the office door opened and Ranger instantly froze. When he turned on the light, gun drawn, I simply said, "see, it bugs you, doesn't it? I bet all you can think now is, how **did** she do it? And I'm not going to tell."

"Babe," Ranger said, his tone a plea.

"Nope. It's payback for all those times you didn't tell me how you broke into my apartment. I've already resolved the security loophole for you, so you won't have to worry about the vulnerability down the road. And yet you'll never know what it was."

Ranger full on grinned at that, and I shrugged nonchalantly, face carefully blank.

Ranger sat down in his guest chair, but put his feet up on the desk opposite where mine were before asking, "so, am I talking to Steph or Joule right now?"

"Bit of both," I said. "Certainly Joule wouldn't break into your office."

"You don't seem surprised that I put that together."

I snorted out a laugh, "you saw me make a shield outside of my parents house, followed by the announcement of a New Avenger, and then by that video. And you, Ricardo Carlos Manoso, are a very smart man."

"You're really okay?"

"I wasn't for a couple of hours, but now I am," I replied with a shrug. "Both lungs work and everything."

Ranger sat there and stared at me, fingers steepled together and resting on his lips as he studied me. Finally, he opened his mouth and asked, "Babe?"

"We have a problem," I told him. I waited for his comment, and when one didn't come, I continued, "See, as was made _painfully_ clear to me recently, our security staff on site is lacking. Not in quality, but in numbers. We need at least double, if not triple the number we currently have to be secure and at comfortable operating levels. More, and we can start sending people into the field, which is going to be needed at one point or another."

Ranger leaned back all the way in his seat and put his hands behind his head. "And how can I help with that?"

"We need people we can trust Ranger, and we trust you."

"All of you trust me?"

"Yes," I responded without hesitation. "Falcon, War Machine, Hawkeye and I have all vouched for you. There are still some required security measures, but they're more a formality."

"And why would I do this? I got out for a good reason."

"Same reason Falcon and I did- Captain America needs your help. Also, it's a challenge, and we have cooler toys than you'll ever get unless you get back in, but we're not government. We're not military; if you decide you want to leave, you can. Anytime- no set commitment lengths. And, it's kinda fun."

"Oh, it's fun now?",

"And a little terrifying," I replied. Taking a stack of paper from in front of me, I slid it forward. "Look, Ranger. I suspect you started this company for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was making a clean, well-respected reputation for yourself. You've done that, and you can keep doing that. But if you'd like to move up, I think you'll find this to be a job with just as much good behind it. I wouldn't let them run a deep search on you or the guys, yet, so we had to guess at the financials for this and your other branches. You can sell them or put someone else in charge and take a cut of the profits, we don't care. That's a salary package, benefits, and signing bonus for you. Under it are examples of what we plan to offer the guys you want to bring with you."

"Not all of them are clean, Babe. Some of the ones I'd want to bring with me have pasts."

"You know that like a third of our team used to be assassins, right? Sure, there was a little bit of brainwashing where Natasha and Bucky were concerned, but Clint's only excuse was a dark past. Not saying that isn't understandable as well, just saying that we understand. We don't care about those types of things; we care about what kind of people they are now. And I think the ones you want to bring will pass that test with flying colors."

Ranger stared at me and drummed his fingers on the folder. Finally he sighed and opened it up. "This says 'Head of Security for Avengers _Global_ ,' Babe."

"Well, we operate internationally with immunity in almost every country, really. We're small now, but we're hoping to grow. We want to have your contract reflect that. You would stay mostly at the primary facility, but there would be some travel as we set up more bases. And you'd get to hand pick the head of each base."

"This compensation package-"

"Is negotiable if need be," I interjected.

"Events, equipment, personnel..." Ranger trailed off sounding more and more stunned as he named items.

"You're top of the non-Avengers totem pole. We have a lot to do, and we train a lot when we're idle. We do some team building as well. With the right person, a person we trust, we'd be willing to let go of a lot of the decisions outlined there. Obviously we get veto power, but we wouldn't use it unless we really need to. And even then, it's by consensus and your vote counts. As _two_ people."

"Can I bring my cars?"

"Are they mostly legal?"

"Babe."

I snickered, "yeah, Ranger, you can bring your cars."

"I'd do it for less money."

"You shouldn't have to; it's a dangerous job."

"And Julie?"

"There's a full tuition plus expenses college fund in there for her, without any kind of recruitment stipulation. And she can visit whenever she wants. She's a good kid, and she'll keep her mouth shut."

Ranger nodded his head over and over again while thinking for several long minutes. "No lecture about patriotic duty?"

I snorted, "from me? Nah, you'd have to ask Steve for that. And this isn't just an America thing- like you said, the title reads 'global'. We're trying to keep the entire planet safe, and we need good people. You're one of the best, plain and simple."

"Babe."

"Was that a yes? Because I swear to God, I think I'm getting better about deciphering those, but I'm going to need you to actually say it so I'm sure."

"Yes, Babe, it was a yes. Give me a day to figure out who to bring with me. How many can I bring?"

"Global."

Ranger nodded his head, "they won't all want to come."

"We don't want anyone who doesn't want to be there."

"Ella and Louis?"

I nodded my head, then added, "the custodial department handles housekeeping right now, but we're looking to break those out into separate areas. So we'll need a head of that, and if Ella's interested in the position, it's hers. We're just going to generally need more hands as we scale up. And we've got a place for Louise too if he wants it, overseeing maintenance of Avengers team spaces. Now, I know you might think, 'is that really enough for a full time job?' Well, let me tell you, it's more than, and if he needs to hire more people, he can pick some out. Regardless, he can still move in with Ella."

"Head of security ever get to go out in the field?"

"Second version of your contract allows for that; I wasn't sure if you'd want to or not. You just let us know which version you want to sign."

Ranger nodded his head resolutely, and I jumped out of my chair to do a victory dance.

"You're entitled to a FULL tour of the place before you sign on if you want to take a couple hours today to do that. We can fly up now, show you around, do the Lie Detector bit, and get your probationary lanyard. The full access one will have to wait until you sign the paperwork and we do the background check."

"Full tour?"

"I bet I can talk Clint and Bucky into letting you play with some weapons."

"Music to my ears, Babe."

Ranger stood up and I rushed him for a hug. While holding me he whispered, "I'm doing it because Joule needs my help first, Captain America second."

I got a little teary eyed at that but nodded my head

"Steve's okay with me living on site given our background?" Ranger asked. He paused once we hit the roof to say, "Let me call down and let the control room know we've got incoming."

"He is, and that won't be necessary," I said, taking joy in the surprise on Ranger's face when the ramp to the jet opened and materialized in front of us.

When we stepped onto the jet, I saw CliTasCky look up with smiles on their faces. As everyone settled down, I noticed Clint in the copilot seat and everyone else buckled in in other seats. Clint just looked at me expectantly, and Ranger asked, "you can fly this?"

"Theoretically," I muttered.

"Steve says you're ready," Natasha said.

"Steve's biased!" I argued.

In response, she rolled her eyes before saying, "yeah, biased towards wanting to make sure you live a very long life. If he says you're ready, I can guarantee Clint would have flown with you _hours_ ago."

I looked over at Ranger who had not signed on for this, and he just shrugged.

"Don't think I haven't noticed that you're buckled in, Bucky. You never buckle in."

"Just fly the damn thing, Dollface. Bad enough it's going to take an hour instead of the minutes it would have if Clint was flying," Bucky retorted.

"Well, get to know the new guy," I suggested. "I am NOT taking this thing supersonic."

As I ran through all the preflight checks, I murmured to Clint, "I'm assuming I'm not allowed to use FRIDAY?"

"You assume correctly," came his cheery response.

With a sigh, I wiped my sweating palms of hands on my pants before gripping the controls and taking off.

"I've only put in twenty hours on the simulator," I mumbled to myself.

"You have an evolutionarily advanced brain now, Steph. I don't know if you've noticed, but you're picking everything up quickly, so you're on the accelerated plan. Next stop, night flying."

"Picking up quickly still makes twenty hours on a simulator before flying seem ridiculous."

"Yeah, you don't pick it up as quickly as Steve and Bucky. They have perfect memories. I'm not even sure Steve used a simulator before he flew for the first time, and he went out solo."

"Shut up," I muttered. "That isn't going to work; I'm not competitive when it comes to possible imminent death. Please just don't let me crash."

"I am heavily invested in you not crashing," Clint retorted.

I figured that was supposed to be reassuring, but in reality, it wasn't. Still we made it to the base without incident, and I landed passably smoothly. When I finished turning everything off, I looked over at Clint to see him smiling widely, "I still think that was a dumbass decision."

"You were good, Babe. How many times had you flown this?"

"That was the first time."

Ranger went pale at that, and it made the whole thing worthwhile. "That wasn't a joke? Some kind of hazing you were directing at me?"

"We don't haze; I'd only put in twenty hours on the simulator, and all of those were with FRIDAYs assistance and Steve there to guide me."

I pushed the button to lower the ramp, and Steve was waiting there with his arms crossed and a proud smile on his face.

"No, Steve, I don't want to fly any regular people on my first flight," I said in my regular voice. Then I pitched my voice low in a poor imitation of Steve and said, "okay, Steph. That's fine, I'd be happy to fly with you."

When I reached him, I punched him in the shoulder and he laughed before pulling me into his chest. He murmured to me softly and stroked his hand down my back, which made me realize I was shaking a little.

"How'd she do?" Steve called out to Clint.

"Passed with flying colors; I didn't have to tell her a damn thing or touch a single control."

Steve nodded and pressed a kiss to my head before releasing me and moving back to shake Ranger's hand, "good to see you again Ranger. I assume this is a good sign?"

Ranger allowed a small smile to grace his face as he nodded and shook Steve's hand saying, "you chose your recruiter well."

"She seemed like the natural choice," Steve agreed.

"I promised Ranger the full tour," I told Steve.

With a nod to Ranger, Steve put his hand out indicating that he could walk ahead. Once they reached me, Steve slid an arm around my waist and we walked through the facility and to the Lie Detector room. As soon as we hit the hallway, Steve released me and I guided Ranger inside.

Natasha was already in there making sure the machine was up and ready to go. She offered Ranger a bland look when he walked in, and I helped him get connected to the machine. My job was to stay silent for the most part, and observe, so I settled against the wall and watched Natasha work.

"State your full name." Natasha prompted.

"Ricardo Carlos Manoso," Ranger responded without hesitation. "I primarily go by the name Ranger these days."

"Current occupation."

"CEO of Rangeman Securities, LLC. I've also taken some black ops contract work on for the US government and other parties."

"Any spouses or children?"

"One ex-wife, Rachel Martine, and she raises my daughter, Julie, in Miami."

"Any criminal background?"

"My daughter was kidnapped by Edward Scrog in an attempt to takeover my identity, and the initial investigation focused on me. I did not kidnap her, and was cleared of any wrongdoing in the case."

Natasha nodded her head and said, "past military service?"

"U.S. Army Rangers. I cannot tell you about missions without proper clearance."

"What, if any prior association do you have with the Avengers?"

"My associations with Hawkeye, Falcon, and War Machine are part of those classified files and I can not divulge that information without verification of proper clearance. I met Joule a couple years ago when I was asked by the office manager of Plum Bail Bonds to mentor her in how to be a bonds enforcement agent. Since then, we've worked together on numerous cases and she has occasionally done contract work for Rangeman. We also had a casual personal relationship that has been over for at least a year now, I believe."

"Why are you here?"

"Joule asked for my help, and I'm happy to give it. In addition, the job description I was provided seems suitably interesting and fulfilling. As part of the creation of Rangeman, I've worked to make Trenton, New Jersey a more secure place. The branches in Boston, Miami, and Atlanta are tasked with similar missions. I look forward to helping make the entire world a more secure place."

"What are your intentions with Rangeman if you are hired into this position?"

"I need to talk to my employees, but I plan to bring some with me. Depending on who is uninterested, I may ask one of them to take over the Trenton office and give up all of my managerial responsibilities, remaining a silent partner and majority stakeholder. Otherwise, I may break down the offices and sell them individually- there have been offers in the past to do so which I rejected."

Natasha nodded once again, then hit him with my favorite, "what's the difference between an egg and a rock?"

Ranger didn't even miss a beat, just said, "a rock makes a better weapon than an egg, and an egg can provide necessary sustenance. Though, at less than a hundred calories a pop, depending on the situation, you may be better off using the egg as a weapon than eating it."

I managed to contain any reaction, just continued to observe while Natasha continued her questioning with, "You wash up on a deserted island alone. Sitting on the sand is a box. What is in the box?"

"My standard opps bag- most importantly a sat phone, knife, flint fire starter, and some rope."

Natasha seemed satisfied with that answer, though I wasn't sure if others would be able to read that in her expression or if it was just me sensing her emotions.

Next she asked, "do you have any affiliation with HYDRA, the Ten Rings, AIM, any other terrorist organization, or Hammer Industries?"

"No."

Natasha paused for several moments, and Ranger just held steady. Finally, she nodded her head and said, "okay, I think we're good. Steph will get you your temporary lanyard, please wear it at all times while you're on base. Once we've completed the background check and you've signed your contract, we'll get you your permanent one and introduce you to the rest of your staff."

I helped Ranger disconnect from the machine and guided him outside, where Steve was waiting, lanyard in hand. He passed it off to Ranger, who slipped it over his hand, and I couldn't stop myself from asking, "how would you use an egg as a weapon? You said that a rock was a better weapon than an egg, which implies that the egg is at least some level of a weapon."

"Depends on whether or not it is cooked," Ranger said with a shrug. "Assuming it is raw, the best bet is probably to use it to blind my attacker."

"Huh," I said. "That's actually pretty good. Though why you would have an egg while being attacked, I don't know."

"Some people cook, Joule," Ranger said. "And sometimes they get attacked at home, so put those two together, and you just might be holding an egg. Generic you there, not you specifically. Knowing how little you cook, I think you're probably safe from having to use an egg to attack someone."

"I should think so," I agreed. Mentally, I noted that Ranger had called me by my Avenger name, and realized it was probably a sign of deference while on base. It would probably take some getting used to, and I could only hope that he would revert back when off the clock and just hanging out.

"Well, you've already seen the cafeteria," Steve picked up on the thread while still moving us out of personal territory smoothly, knowing that my lack of kitchen skills could be a sore subject for me from time to time. I smiled at him as he continued explaining, "we have a cafeteria on site that will make you whatever you'd like to eat anytime of the day, but our staff apartments also all have kitchens in them. Steph mentioned that you have a daughter, so we'll set you up in one of the two bedroom suites so you can have a room for her to stay in when she visits whenever you want."

"Thank you," Ranger said. "I'm sure that will come in handy."

We continued to show Ranger around the facility, stopping frequently to answer questions before we finally made it to the armory. Sticking my head inside, I saw Clint and Bucky working, and Bucky looked over giving me a thumbs up. I walked through the door and held it open for Ranger, and after they came over and greeted him, I said, "if it's alright with you, Ranger, I'm going to leave you here for your playtime. I'm overdue on my daily visit to the gym, and you know how important that is. Clint will fly you home when you're done, and call when you have more information on who you want to bring and what your timeline is."

Ranger nodded his head and suffered through my hug before moving over eagerly to look at the weapons Bucky and Clint had brought out for him to use. Turning back to Steve, I walked through the door he held open for me. Once we were in the hallway, I slid my arm around my waist and leaned into him. "I think that went well," I whispered.

"I do too," Steve agreed. "Now, let's go get the workout part of the day done, then Natasha and I have some HYDRA intel we want you to look at. We think we're closing in on base locations in Trenton. Also, I want to finish at a reasonable time today because I was thinking we could go out tonight, maybe go to dinner and a movie?"

"Sounds wonderful!" I agreed, smiling up at him and pausing long enough to steal a quick kiss.


	32. Cupcakes

**Chapter 32 - Cupcakes**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

My date with Steve started with a motorcycle ride to dinner and another to the movie, but ended with the Aven-Jet picking us up. At first, I was worried we were being called out on a mission, but I quickly realized that Bucky was the only other one in it.

It turned out to be the day for surprise flying tests, which explained why Steve had rejected my request of a glass of wine with dinner and promised me one when we got back to base. Thankfully, we made it back without incident, and I was cleared for night flying as well. We all had suggested schedules of hours to fly to stay cleared, but that was more of a formality.

And apparently all of my work had paid off. By the time the morning of the gala rolled around, I was promoted to a full-fledged Avenger along with the rest of my probationary teammates. Even so, I spent the day riddled with nerves.

By lunch time, Steve called my training off for the day because I was a distracted mess.

"Steph, this isn't working, and it isn't safe. Just take the rest of the day off until it's time to leave later this afternoon, okay?" he said softly.

With a sigh and a dejected downturn of my shoulders, I nodded my head and murmured, "yes, you're probably right."

I wandered down to our room and looked around for a few minutes before deciding to start by just taking a shower. I shed my workout clothes into the laundry bin on my way through the bedroom, and set my gun down on the bathroom counter before turning on the shower. It really didn't take very long for our water to heat up, being that the facility was new, advanced, and built by Stark, but it was a difficult habit to get out of doing things to fill the time, so I started brushing my teeth.

As the steam started swirling around, I spit out the toothpaste and leaned down to rinse out my mouth. Before I could straighten back up, I felt Steve's big, callused hands slide around my hips, startling me slightly.

He chuckled deeply, and allowed his hands to start wandering even as I spun around.

"Someone's feeling frisky," I said, leaning up to nibble on his lips.

By way of response, Steve just hummed as he deepened the kiss. When he pulled back, he licked his lips and whispered, "mmmm, minty." Giving me a pat on the butt he gently pushed me toward the shower and said, "just give me a minute to catch up on that front and I'll join you."

"You going to scrub my back, Steve?"

"And maybe more. Go get started."

I climbed into the shower even as I kept my head turned and watched Steve strip. Because it was the first thing I usually did, I grabbed my body wash while pondering the fact that I didn't even know who kept in stock, but it never seemed to run low. Our shower, and presumably those in others' rooms were the same, was designed for someone who didn't like being closed in or potentially caught unawares. The wall that was inside the bathroom was made of glass above waist level, and it had an opening at the end furthest from the shower heads instead of a door. That meant that as I soaped up my body, I could continue watching Steve.

His muscles rippled deliciously as he brushed his teeth, and his eyes met mine in the shower. Clearly enjoying the fact that I was watching he started setting out shaving supplies and raised a brow. I smiled, and continued to watch as he lathered up his face with the brush and set about using a straight blade to clean up his stubble.

When things got a little too foggy for me to see out of the glass, I moved over to the doorway for a better view though the room as a whole was starting to get difficult to see through.

By this point, I was thoroughly clean, but I was enjoying the sensation of my own slippery hands on my breasts as I watched him move.

I swear I wasn't even aware of it when my right hand dipped lower and started gently rubbing against myself, fanning the flames. It wasn't until Steve finished and turned to look at me, only to stop and groan that I realized what I had done.

Instinctively, I froze and thought about moving my hand away. I decided against it when Steve's hand moved down to palm his growing erection. For a few seconds we stared at each other and pleasured ourselves until Steve shook himself into action.

He moved forward and nudged me back with his muscular body. Once he had me under the spray, his hands ran everywhere trying to make sure there wasn't any soap left on my body.

"Seems like I'm not the only one feeling frisky," Steve noted.

"I don't know that I'd call it frisky, per se," I retorted.

"What would you call it then?"

"I'd call it not having any sugar yet today in preparation for drowning in it at every possible point later tonight."

Steve grinned down at me before prompting, "oh, in that case, I think we should definitely negotiate the dietary change long term. What will it take to make you not have any sugar tonight? Or tomorrow?"

"Hey, I was minding my own business and taking a shower! You turned it sexy!" I argued.

Steve just laughed and said, "so? Question still stands."

"Well," I pulled him down and gave him a deep kiss, hopping up to wrap my legs around his waist. "Maybe show me how you'll take care of all my needs if I do?"

Steve nodded his head, slid into me, and leaned his mouth down to nibble at my ear. He whispered filthy things to me as he took my suggestion to heart.

My skin was completely wrinkled by the time we finished and I felt like all of my muscles had turned to noodles. Steve let me lean against him while he managed the actual cleaning portion of the program.

"Maybe I should quit sugar out of self preservation," I mumbled into his chest. "I don't think I can keep up with you otherwise."

"Sorry," he said in a voice that sounded anything _but_. "I saw you naked in the steam, and I knew I had to have you. And add in the sight of the way you were playing with yourself while washing... That was it for my self control."

Steve's hands had started wandering while he spoke, but when they wandered low and started becoming intimately acquainted with a region that had just gotten thorough use, I laughed and batted his hands away.

"I'm just making sure you're clean," he teased. "Scouts honor!"

"Are you telling me that you and your amazingly poor health when you were a little boy were able to be a Boy Scout?" I asked tone clearly indicating that I didn't believe it.

Steve grabbed onto his chest playfully as though I had ripped his heart out, for a moment before guiding me back under the deluge of water to rinse off while he quickly and much less delicately lathered up his own body. "Alright, you caught me, but I do believe in always being prepared. That's a scout thing, right?"

I just hummed lightly in agreement, and once he was done rinsing himself off, I collapsed myself against him again.

"You'll need to work on this," Steve's Captain America voice pushed to the surface. "Can't have the world think the newest Avenger is an overcooked noodle."

"That would be a shame," I agreed, all the while burrowing into Steve a little deeper. When his hands came up and started massaging shampoo into my hair, I let out a low moan at the sensation.

"Oh, you like that?" he asked.

"Yessssss," I moaned.

"I'll keep at it when we switch to your conditioner if you tell me why you're so worried about today. Is it a spidey sense thing?"

I allowed him to tilt my head back into the spray, and giggled in amusement when he cupped my face with his hands to ensure the suds didn't get into my eyes.

"No, not spidey sense per se, and I'm fairly certain I wouldn't really feel that yet unless someone who meant to do us harm was already nearby." I said when he allowed me back up. I paused long enough to let out another sinful moan when his hands went to work with the conditioner, this time with his fingers digging firmly into my scalp and massaging. "I feel like I need to sign my entire salary over to whoever taught you to do this."

"Steph, this is one of those times I'd really like you to honestly and directly tell me how you feel," Steve informed me. "You seemed extremely distracted earlier, and I want to know why."

"What if they don't like me?"

"Who wouldn't like you?" Steve asked, so clearly confused that it boosted my confidence at little.

"The press? The public? The people with the money? I don't know... The world?" I'd pulled back from Steve as I nervously blurted out my list.

"I have no doubt everyone is going to love you," Steve reassured me. "But even if they somehow don't at first, which I don't anticipate, that's too bad for them. You're an Avenger now, and that's that. They'll have to deal with it until they manage to learn to love you."

His conviction carried through not only his speech, but also through my spidey sense, and that time it did soothe me. If the public took an instant disliking to me, my spots on the team was secure.

"And what if they think I'm not good enough for Captain America?" I couldn't stop myself from squeaking out.

Steve raised a brow at me when I tilted back my head to rinse out my hair once more and he moved to quickly wash his own. "I'm not sure _I'm_ good enough to _be_ Captain America most days," he confessed. "Regardless, the bottom line is that is not anyone else's decision but mine, and you aren't dating The Captain, you're dating Steve."

"Well, if you're going to be all reasonable about it," I retorted with a tiny pout.

Steve turned off the water and reached out to grab our towels. Once he'd handed me mine, he said, "I am going to be _realistic_ about it."

As we stepped out of the shower, I asked, "FRIDAY, what time is it?"

"It is 2pm," FRIDAY responded momentarily before chiming to let me know that she'd stopped the monitoring she began when is spoken her name.

Looking over at Steve as I finished drying off, I asked, "we don't need to leave until 5, right? Want to start a movie and I can wander in and out if I need to start getting ready before it's over?"

Steve picked me up, and carried me out of the bathroom and straight to our bed. After pressing me into it with his body and kissing me, he said, "I bet I can come up with something else to use to distract you."

Two hours later, I had makeup spread all over the dresser, on top of a towel, and I wanted to be grumpy at Steve for distracting me for so long, but I just couldn't bring myself to be anything other than blissfully satisfied.

As I tried futilely to cover up a hickey on my neck, I groaned out, "if I'd known I was staying here, I would have raided the makeup in the guest room much more thoroughly. I only took a coverup and a powder, and this is a Super Soldier strength hickey."

"Did I hurt you?" Steve shot up from the bed to ask in a worried tone.

"Nope," I grinned at him through the mirror, "it's just dark and difficult to cover."

Steve rose lazily and walked up behind me. His hands crept around my waist, and he hugged me back into him. Then he caught my eyes in the mirror, maintaining the contact before he moved his head down and licked the biggest of the hickeys.

My eyes crossed at the sensation. For the first full minute after, I was hazy with no-sugar diet hormone lust. Then I shook my head, and met Steve's laughing eyes in the mirror. Playfully I pulled up an energy shield and carefully shoved him back until his knees hit the bed and he flopped backward onto it.

"Steve," I scolded. "That isn't going to help me be ready on time! Not to mention you just licked off concealer, which is gross! Didn't that taste bad?"

When our eyes met once more through the mirror, I could see that both of us were barely containing our laughter.

"Doesn't bother me. Should I consider my point proven then?" Steve asked innocently before clarifying. "You don't need the sugar."

I nodded my head, but cautioned, "it will depend on how the night goes. If it goes tits up, I reserve the right to drown my sorrows in sugar until such a time as I am able to jump you to get back my happy."

Steve's smile went impossibly wide as he inclined his head in agreement. He was studying my every move, and finally said, "why don't you let me braid back your hair so it is out of your way while you work."

I agreed, and moved back to sit on the stool Steve had procured for just this purpose. He'd set it up right next to the bed today, so all he had to do was move his legs to either side to straddle me. I tried not to get overly hormonally distracted by the feel of his thighs framing mine as he made quick work of braiding my hair into what would become Joule's trademark Dutch braid/bun combo style.

When I got up and grabbed the can of hairspray, Steve confidently took it from my hands.

"The showgirls teach you this too?" I curiously queried.

"No, I've just watched you do it a handful of times, figured you might be more easily able to keep the spray from getting in your eyes if you had both hands free."

So saying, Steve quickly distributed enough of the spray to help my hair stay fixed for hours of schmoozing or a battle, whichever happened. When he was done, I pressed a quick kiss of thanks to his lips.

"You are way too good at that, but I promise to not tell any of the reporters," I both teased and reassured at once.

"You better not tell them," Steve agreed before walking over to the bathroom and coming back seconds later. "Or I won't give you this."

I took the tube he was holding out at me, and then stared between it and him in disbelief. "Why do you have this?"

"I've been told it isn't good for Captain America to show up at public appearances looking beat up. Sometimes there isn't a whole lot I can do, like if I have a split lip that hasn't healed over. But for bruises on my face, I use that."

"Thanks for sharing your makeup with me, Cap," I teased with a wink in the mirror. Steve was picking up the towels we'd ditched fresh out of our showers earlier, and he quickly snapped one at me. Because I saw the motion, I threw up a shield behind me and waggled my finger at him in the mirror.

Several minutes later, Steve had settled back into watching me. When he managed to catch my eye through the mirror once more, he asked, "Can I ask something about this process you're doing without you getting upset?"

"Probably," I retorted, without much attitude because it was difficult to cop an attitude while applying mascara.

"Why are you bothering if you're going to be wearing your sunglasses anyway?"

"What if I have to take them off for some reason? Or they fall off?"

"I thought they couldn't fall off," he replied slowly.

"When I have FRIDAY's interface running in them and she runs a current through Tony's fancy polymer blend blah blah blah whatever stuff that they're made of. But I wasn't planning to have that turned on today."

Steve seemed to agree with the sentiment, but he circled back to, "you don't need any of that makeup anyway."

"Well, I hardly think it would be good for PR if Captain America's girlfriend showed up covered in hickeys," I laughed. "And the rest is just kind of a product of growing up in the Burg. By now, it's become a kind of armor for me. I feel invincible when I have it on."

Steve sat quietly for a moment, and I could almost see the gears turning in his head- not in a way where I had any idea what he was thinking, just that he was. Finally he nodded his head and with a smile said, "It's kind of like how I keep the mask in battle even though everyone knows who I am at this point. When I'm behind it, I can pretend that they don't know and I've hidden away Steve. All that's left is the Captain and his confidence."

"Steve seems pretty confident to me too. At least when we're out and about on the base." I set aside my makeup, deciding I was done, then went over to the bed and sat on Steve's thighs straddling him. "You're still confident in here, but it's different. You feel more real in here or with the team in our living quarters."

"Everyone on the staff looks at me for what to do," Steve agreed. "Even if I'm not in uniform, they tend to stand a little straighter and watch me. It can be a bit stifling, and I'm so glad that you don't do it."

"I'm pretty sure I warned you that I don't follow orders well," I retorted with a shrug. In a small voice, I added "there is one more thing that's bothering me."

"What's that?" Steve prodded gently, but firmly.

"I don't _want_ to be famous. I just want to help people, but I feel like as soon as I show up at this thing."

Steve nodded and finished the thought, "you're going to be famous, and people will talk about you. So all I can say is find a way to use it to try to make some sort of change you want to see in the world." Then with a laugh he suggested, "and if you can do it without blowing an organization like SHIELD to the ground or building a giant pile of AI death robots, more the better."

"I'm fairly certain I don't have the skill set for either of those things," I assured him, pressing a whisper of a kiss to his lips so as not to transfer my lipstick. It seemed whatever brand it was didn't smudge, which was good to know. "But you should see some of the weapons Bucky and Clint have me playing with..."

Steve groaned, and I laughed happily, noticing that the sound made Steve seem lighter. When I started to scoot off his lap, Steve just wrapped his hands under my butt and stood while holding me up before gently setting me on my feet. Together we walked out to the living room, and the team looked like...

"Why are you drawing straws?" Steve asked warily.

Well, at least I wasn't the only one who thought that was what they were doing. The guilty manner in which they shoved their hands behind their backs made me realize that Steve and I had both been right.

"To see who had to go get you when you were late," Bucky finally answered bluntly after a few seconds pause where no one else stepped up to do so. "But you're on time, so today is Barton's lucky day."

I looked over and caught Clint doing a fist pump and couldn't stop the giggle that burst out of my mouth.

 _ **Steve's POV**_

I would definitely prefer that the team didn't tease Steph about our lovemaking, but since she didn't seem overly bothered or embarrassed, I decided to let it go. When my phone chimed, I looked down at the message and frowned.

"Steph," I started. "Did we go over proper protocol for if you need to order something and have it delivered?"

Steph nodded her head and said, "yeah, but I haven't needed to order anything. Why?"

"A deliveryman just showed up with a package addressed to you," I explained.

"Me, 'Stephanie Plum'?" she asked, clearly confused. "Or me, 'Joule'? Either way, I didn't order whatever it is, so…"

"They're bringing it in now," I said with a sigh. "Initial scans indicate that it doesn't contain a threat, but it does contain organic matter."

The door to the Avenger's living space opened revealing Tank, Ranger, and Hector, causing Steph to bounce up and down and clap her hands. Tank walked in first carrying Rex's cage, and Steph immediately got distracted going to say hello to the hamster.

When she finished, she greeted each of the men, stopping by Ranger last. "I didn't know you were back already."

"Lester said Upstate New York didn't have enough places to meet ladies, so he respectfully declined the job offer. I put him in place as head of Rangeman, and brought those who wanted to come back with me. After all, you've got some fancy shin-dig to go to. You'll all need to play nice and talk to the donors and reporters, so we'll watch your backs."

I'd been circling the box while they talked and finally looked between the team and said, "well, I guess there's only one way to find out what's inside."

" _I_ open it," Steph said.

I scratched my chin a little, knowing this was dangerous territory as I responded, "I was thinking something similar. Only, you know, I would be the one opening it."

Steph made a show of looking over the label on the box, "does this say Steven Grant Rogers?"

"Well, no."

"Then I guess it's mine to open. In fact, I'm pretty sure you opening my mail without my permission would be a felony, and we wouldn't want Captain America committing felonies now would we?" Steph argued. "Plus, if it is a bomb, I'm the best one to open it."

"It's not a bomb," Bucky said. "Our scanners would have caught it."

Steph opened her mouth like she was going to say something more, then the little sneak quick as a flash reached the knife out of her combat boots, slit the tape holding the box shut, and opened it. As she pulled out tissue paper, I noticed a sweet smell and stepped closer. Much to my surprise, she shut the lid of the box again, shoving it away and looking very unhappy.

Everyone took in her body language before Natasha stepped forward and looked at Steph for a nod of approval before reaching in and pulling out… a tower of cupcakes. I was confused for a moment until I saw Steph and Ranger exchange a look at the same time a memory pushed its way to the surface.

"Morelli called you 'Cupcake'," I said slowly.

Steph was nodding her head about to say something when Darcy came walking into the room saying, "oooh! cupcakes!" and reaching for one.

Before Darcy could grab a cupcake, Steph froze her hand in one of her mini force fields and shouted, "no!"

Darcy looked around the room wide-eyed, took in our serious expressions and asked, "what was someone stupid enough to send the Avengers poisoned cupcakes?"

"The Avengers, no," I gritted out. "Steph, yes."

"We think my ex, Morelli sent them," Steph explained. "Though, I mean, I doubt they're poisoned."

"The ex who assaulted you while you were under arrest and in police custody in Trenton?" Darcy asked.

With a resigned sigh, I questioned, "no, seriously Darcy. Where do you learn these things? You really can't just be hacking files and reading-"

Steph cut me off with, "I told her about it earlier, when we were talking about how much men suck sometimes!"

"Excuse me?" I raised a brow in question to go along with it.

"I'm sorry," Steph teased. "Can you remember no moments when you sucked a little? Maybe a time when you didn't ask me before agreeing to a major life change for me?"

Knowing exactly to what she was referring, I pressed a kiss to her lips and said, "yes, but you forgave me for that."

"I did," she agreed. "Now, I'm thinking we don't have any more time to deal with whatever this is right now, so let's just leave them be until tomorrow? No one eat any of the cupcakes just in case."

A quick look around the room showed that we were all in agreement. Together we started walking to the jet, and I couldn't stop myself from asking Ranger the question, even though I knew I should fess up to Steph about the actions I'd asked Ranger to take weeks ago.

"Ranger," I looked over at the man in question and waited for his raised eyebrow to indicate he was ready for my question. "What was Morelli's status the last time you checked? Did raising a fuss actually do anything?"

"He got a three day suspension, with pay, right off the bat. But because of Juniak, they did actually launch at least a token investigation internally. But we were still surprised when his suspension was lengthened to indefinite because of possible involvement with the mob."

I remembered what Steph had said about Connie from the bonds office and her connections to the mob. Was Steph actually more involved than I had assumed? When I looked over at Steph, she shook her head and said, "it'd be a different Family; there are multiple in Trenton and the surrounding areas. My guess is Terri Gilman."

Ranger nodded his head and said, "people with brains are taking it as proof that the two of them have been together for... A while."

From the look that crossed Steph's face, I could tell she knew Ranger meant that Morelli had been with this Terri person while he was supposed to be with Steph. I knew they hadn't always been exclusive, but Steph had suspicions that he hadn't been even when they had agreed to be. I reached out and squeezed her hand to offer support, receiving a grateful smile in return.

"And what do those without brains think?" Natasha asked.

Ranger sighed, "Morelli's mother has been going around saying he did it for Steph- to protect her or because she asked him. The exact story varies. Unfortunately that's picked up steam a little since Helen Plum has added her support to that theory."

"Bitch," Darcy spat out angrily. "Stupid bitch, actually because Steph could totally ruin her by telling everyone the truth!"

Everyone looked at Steph who shrugged and said, "it doesn't seem worth the effort."

We started loading onto the jet, and I took the information in. It seemed highly probable that Steph's placement of Morelli's photo between "suspicious" and "need more info" had been fairly spot on given the question we'd been asking.

Was Morelli HYDRA? It appeared the answer was "no". But that didn't mean that Morelli was a good guy. In fact, it seemed the opposite may be true.

"We know Batroc distributed our address out to any bad guys who wanted it, free of charge because he wanted to make our lives difficult. He doesn't like Cap." Bucky said, "if Morelli somehow figured out Steph was with us, that'd be easy for him to get."

"There have been rumors going around since Steph used her powers outside her parents' house," Ranger acknowledged.

Steph blew out a breath adding, "Morelli made a show of protecting me for so many years that my building super would confirm what he saw the night my apartment was firebombed if Morelli just hinted that he already knew."

Strapping into the seat next to Steph, I could feel the stress I'd worked to eliminate from her prior to the night's events radiating off her once more. So I set Morelli aside in my mind, pulled my girl close, and started whispering ever more lighthearted things to her... With a few carnal suggestions thrown in to distract her and get her giggling again as we made our way quickly to D.C.


	33. Smithsonian

**Chapter 33 - Smithsonian**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

There'd been some healthy debate in the week leading up to the gala about, really, all parts of the evening. But one of the most talked about decisions was the order in which we should leave the jet. Steve had insisted on security leaving before the team, which I now knew meant Ranger, Tank, Bobby, Cal, Hal, and Woody with Ram already onsite in a sniper perch and Hector staying inside the jet to protect it and watch surveillance feeds. Bucky had argued that it would make the team look weak, and after a few rounds, Bucky had won.

Everyone agreed, however, that as the newest Avenger, I was the most likely to be targeted if anyone was going to try to take one of us out that day. When he'd made the concession that we would all exit the jet before security set up around us, Steve had insisted that I be the last one out. Of course, he wanted to be first out himself, but when the jet door started to lower, I just stubbornly held onto his hand and refused to let go.

"I need to go out there and make sure everything's safe for you, Steph," he said, trying to pull free.

"You need to stay here and make sure I don't puke all over everyone and everything in sight the second I step outside," I countered.

Steve stared at me resolutely, and obviously saw my nerves because he checked over his shoulder that we weren't yet exposed to the public before dropping a quick kiss on my lips and nodding his head. Then he grabbed my sunglasses out of my hand and slid them onto my face and whispered, "you're going to be great."

The rest of the team watched our exchange and quickly stood, moved out of the jet with murmured words of encouragement or pats on the shoulder. I knew Wanda was nervous too, so when she dragged her feet and was the last Avenger past me other than Steve, I briefly grabbed onto her hand and gave it a squeeze while shooting her a smile. She nodded her head and then rolled her shoulders back and walked off the jet.

When I took a last, fortifying breath, Steve leaned down, looked me in the eye, and said, "do you know what I told your mom when she was yelling at you right before my motorcycle blew up? I told her that you are one of the strongest women I'd ever met, and one day she'd understand why she was a fool to treat you the way she always had. When that day came, she should know that she deserved _none_ of the credit for making you into the woman you are. Now, if everything goes according to plan, she's not going to find out that you're Joule today. And I'm assuming she's too stubborn to have put it together already despite what she's seen, but down the road, she'll know. She'll look back on this day, how you won over _everyone_ as easily as I know you're about to, and she will know how amazing you are. And how fucking stupid she is."

I didn't quite know what to do with that, but I could feel tears welling up, and that was definitely the wrong way to go, so I choked out a laugh and mock-scolded, "you watch your language, Mister!"

Steve had his hands on his belt, but one reached up and splayed over his chest as he tipped his head back and laughed out loud. Then he slung an arm around my waist and said, "I don't know why we didn't name you Ms. Sass or something like that. And it's Captain, not Mister."

I giggled at that as he steered me forward, and that was how it came to be that the first approved shot anyone got of me as an Avenger was with Steve, our arms around each other's' waists, and laughing like we didn't have a care in the world. And honestly, I was fairly certain that made things easier because it seemed to make the press who were there immediately convinced that we were an actual couple rather than two people pretending to have a relationship as a publicity stunt.

Those few moments were absolutely surreal, like something taken out of a movie. There was a carpet that, by golly, was actually red. Ranger's team dissolved into the crowd around us, choosing to disperse themselves among the reporters who lined the walk in addition to the screaming fans behind the barricades on either side. As previously agreed upon, none of the team were straying too far ahead so that the security could better cover us as their numbers were small. The team did break into smaller groups, though, and were interspersed among the celebrities also walking the carpet.

At the front was Darcy, who Clint had insisted would go as his date, and not as event staff. After all, she'd coordinated, but it was the Smithsonian's show and not hers to run onsite. Plus, he'd insisted that if they were going to date, they were going to do it right. In his own words, he was too old to waste time, and Darcy had seemed fine with that, if a bit nervous. From what I could see of her a few dozen yards away, she was fine though, as was everyone else.

I observed all this as Steve and I stopped to smile for the crowds while also scoping everything else out under the guise of posing for pictures. But after stretching out the pause for as long as was possible without being suspicious, Steve's hand shifted from my hip to my lower back and he gently encouraged me forward into the throng.

The first stretch of carpet was just reporters, no video cameras or fancy setups, and I realized that I didn't recognize any of them or the station names listed on their microphones. That probably meant they were from smaller news organizations, which made me feel slightly more comfortable. All the way down the carpet, it seemed like we repeatedly answered the same sets of questions.

"Captain! Why haven't we seen your team anytime other than in battle since the events of Sokovia? Have you been hiding?" was usually the first question Steve was asked.

"No, we weren't hiding. After large missions like that, we try to take some time to make sure we're properly healed and rested. Everyone stays in touch and available in case we're needed again, but we take things a bit easier. In addition, we had some new team members who needed to be trained, and that took priority. You never know when the world will need saving, after all!" Steve would reply.

My questions varied a little more than his did, but usually they revolved around my powers, how long I'd been on the team, or some infuriatingly sexist questions. Honestly, the number of times I got asked what it was like to be dating Captain America was incalculable, and yet the corresponding question was hardly ever addressed to Steve. Another trick they liked to pull was trying to get me to say my name or admit where I was from.

We made it halfway through the setup before I saw a familiar face and instinctively said, "what's up Junie!"

The man in question turned with a smile on his face and started to ask, "What are you doing here, Pl-"

I grabbed onto Steve's arm with a deathgrip and his eyes widened as Joe Juniak fumbled for something to say other than my last name, realization clearly written on his face.

"Rats," I blurt out.

"You must be Joule," Juniak finally settled on. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

He offered his hand then did the same for Steve. We made awkward small talk then went our separate ways.

"That was close," I muttered to Steve. "Sorry."

The next interview I was a little off my game, trying to convince myself that I hadn't slipped up enough for anyone to learn anything more than that I knew a politician. Which wasn't all that crazy and didn't really narrow down the pool of women I could be any. Politicians tended to know lots of people from all over the States, and I was sure that I could trust Juniak with my secret.

Unfortunately, we reached the following reporter and things went sideways. The blond woman was the first in the stretch of larger news stations. Each of them had a larger area to work with, and, as we were pretty much past the fans, there were now portable logo walls behind us. Any pictures or videos that were taken when we were standing at these stations would have the logos for the Avengers, the Smithsonian's, and the appropriate news organization.

As we approached, I could see a man standing behind her, and I got a wave of something malicious through my spidey sense. "Steve, something's not right," I whispered under my breath knowing that Steve's super hearing would pick it up. "I have no idea what though."

"Dangerous?" he leaned down to urgently ask in my ear.

I could only whisper back, "not at the moment, physically, I don't think. But, it isn't something good."

Steve straightened, nodding to me that he understood, but guided me to the reporter because there wasn't anything else we could do for the moment. The man who had been standing with her, his back to us, disappeared before we arrived, and I immediately stopped really thinking about him or what about him I felt I recognized, focusing on the reporter instead.

The woman looked vaguely familiar, and her microphone had the letters "WHiH" on it, which I knew to be a world news organization. Still I couldn't quite come up with a name, and was grateful when I was saved from having to do so by Steve greeting her first, "hello, Ms. Everhart. It's nice to see you, please let me introduce the newest Avenger, Joule."

I reached my hand out to shake hers as well, but she turned to me and looked at me like I was a giant steak and she hadn't eaten in a week. "Hello, Stephanie." It took everything I had in me to maintain a blank face, but she plowed on. "That is your name, right? Stephanie Plum of Trenton, New Jersey? I have a source who is _intimately_ familiar with you, and was able to provide us with photographic evidence that it was, in fact, you."

"I don't know where you got your information," Steve started.

"Oh, cut the crap, Cupcake," I heard from behind me as a hand came around my face and ripped off my goggles.

A few things happened simultaneously at that, but the most important one was that I let out a directional energy blast as soon as I felt the unwanted touch. Morelli went flying and Christine let out a gasp, even as I spun into a defensive stance. Steve was faster and had Morelli pinned to the ground and, after a quiet exchange between the two, Morelli, who had been in disguise, found himself on the receiving end of one pissed off super-soldier punch before I realized Steve was moving again.

"You do not speak to her and you definitely do not get to touch her without her permission!" he yelled. When he pulled back to let loose another punch, I encased his hand in a mini force field.

"Steve!" I yelled. "STOP."

Steve waited until he was sure Ranger had a grip on Joe then stood up with whispered instructions before quickly moving back over to me.

"Are you alright?" he asked, carefully running his hands over me.

"Yes," I rushed to reassure him. "He didn't hurt me; he just ripped off the damn sunglasses because I didn't have them sealed on. Like an idiot."

"Hey, don't talk about yourself like that. It should have been fine, and you're not an idiot for not expecting someone to rip them off your face while you were giving an interview."

The rest of the team had assembled around us offering me some cover, but I knew the damage was done. One reporter had my name, and they all had my face. When I looked back at Christine, she was holding my sunglasses out with a knowing smirk that I wanted nothing more than to wipe the look off her face. Instead, Bucky stepped up to her and growled something I couldn't hear that made her turn pale. Then he ripped the glasses out of her hand and shoved them in his pocket while Steve ushered me down the red carpet once more.

This time, though, the team was grouped around me and we didn't stop to talk to anymore reporters. Someone from the museum staff had clearly been watching or was somehow made aware of the developing situation because as soon as we were inside we were ushered into a side exhibit on military planes that was closed off to the public.

Darcy, way more serious than usual, had hand up, pinching the bridge of her nose as she said, "someone, please tell me that Captain America did not just punch out Joule's ex-boyfriend with like a million reporters watching."

"I don't think there are a million reporters out there," Clint said placatingly. Then he hesitantly added, "the other part is true though."

"What the hell, Cap?" Natasha hissed out. "Have you lost your mind?"

"He fucking shot Steph!" Steve yelled.

"What?!" I shrieked, spinning on my heel. I would have marched myself back out on that red carpet to hunt Ranger and Morelli down if it weren't for Pietro blurring into motion and standing in front of me.

"Calm down, Steph," he murmured. "It's bad enough that Cap punched him without you going back out there right now. Because they'll be all over you if you do, and it will not go well. Especially if you go out there and use your powers against him."

"He's right," Wanda said into my mind. "Let's take a moment and calm down. I know you're angry, but Ranger has him and I think Steve could really use a hug right now."

I looked over at Steve and saw that Wanda was right, so I threw myself into his arms and held on for a long hug. When I finally pulled back, I asked Steve, "exactly what did he say?"

"I asked him how he knew, and he said he'd staked out your parents' house. He was pissed that you had a new boyfriend so he tried to shoot my bike and scare me away from you. But when it blew up, you moved and he shot you instead."

"Did he plant the bomb?" Bucky asked angrily.

"He says no," Steve said through clenched teeth. "I figured you and Natasha might enjoy verifying that information later. Ranger says he can quietly transport him back to base."

Natasha's smile at that information was tied for the scariest thing I'd ever seen with the matching feral grin on Bucky's face.

We spent several minutes drafting a statement together, and then Steve left to give that to the media outside. Once he was done, he came back into the room we were waiting in and held me in another tight hug until Darcy told us we really did have to get back on schedule.

 _ **Steve's POV**_

I did not want to be at the Smithsonian. The whole thing had been my idea, but when it came down to it, I wanted to be thinking about my future. Unlike when I'd visited the exhibit incognito before SHIELD fell in DC, I no longer felt a nostalgic need to relive my past. At present, especially since meeting Steph, I wanted to focus on my future.

I knew things would at least be easier this time around when it came to the Howling Commando exhibits because Bucky was with me. He didn't know it, but one section of the exhibit was newly dedicated to him. During its building, I had been forcefully involved in that section in every way- from the pictures they used to the words they chose to describe what had happened to Bucky.

More than all of that, at the moment, all I wanted to do was go back to base, beat the shit out of Morelli, and then watch Bucky and Natasha work him over in the way only the two of them could. It would not be comfortable for Morelli, and I was fine with that.

But, the truth was, we needed the gala to go smoothly, and I'd already gotten us off to a rough start. My brief press-conference had involved releasing a statement naming Joe Morelli as a cop suspended for assaulting Steph while she was in police custody and under investigation for other matters of which she had since been absolved of any guilt. I also announced that Morelli had just confessed to a second assault on her and reassured the public that we would work with appropriate authorities to resolve the matter. Unfortunately, I'd also had to confirm Steph's identity, but I'd kept that stretch brief before returning to the woman in question.

Holding Steph's hand in mine, we made our way to the Captain America exhibit where a large crowd was milling around, waiting for the team. As soon as they caught sight of us, enthusiastic applause started, and we all lined up, posing for pictures in front of the ribboned off exhibit. At my insistence, Bucky stepped forward and cut the ribbon with me.

The beginning of the exhibit was the same, talking about my early life and selection into the Super Soldier program. Then it moved on to me becoming Captain America, and I watched amused as Steph stood, enraptured by the display showing my pre-Serum photo and size versus my post-serum body. She posed for a picture for Darcy next to the photograph displaying my old height- which she was taller than. But she took my breath away when she pressed a quick kiss to the picture of what Darcy called Skinny Steve before smiling and moving back over to me.

"Honor, bravery, and sacrifice indeed," Steph whispered as she sidled up next to me. "I knew you were smaller and sickly, but I've never really been able to picture you like that. I'm damn impressed by that guy."

She was pointing at the picture, and I couldn't hold back the blush. "I just wanted to do the right thing," I insisted. "Others were laying down their lives for our country, and I had no right to do anything less."

Bucky snorted out a laugh and said, "I heard that argument more than once, and I still think you're stupid for doing what you did. None of this bravery nonsense, you're a stupid ass punk for letting them experiment on you like that! At least you didn't wind up with one of those red faces."

The manner in which he said it was totally teasing, but I couldn't help but mutter, "oh yeah, well, let's see how you like it!"

I watched Bucky's face carefully as he turned the next corner and came face to face with himself. In the early days of searching for him, we found that he had visited the Smithsonian exhibit himself. Cameras had caught him, mostly shielded by a ball cap, as he took in what had been a monument naming him as the only Howling Commando to give his life for his country. Now he was listed as the longest POW on record and a hero who valiantly broke out of HYDRA's grasp to rejoin the fight for freedom for all.

"tha's not right," Bucky muttered. "I'm not a hero."

"The hell you're not!" Darcy, Steph, and Natasha chorused around him. But it was Natasha who quietly continued, "nothing that you did that was wrong was of your own choosing, and now that you're yourself again, you're still fighting for good. No one would blame you if you retired, went into hiding, and became a hermit. But you're not doing any of that, you're using what HYDRA made you to destroy them and people like them."

"Well, someone's gotta keep the punk out of trouble," Bucky finally said.

"Jerk!" I countered, moving away from Steph for long enough to sling an arm around Bucky and clap it on his shoulder in a brief half-hug.

Everything was a little lighter again until we got to the movie room where staff had a row of seats reserved for us. We had been moving through the exhibit faster than the rest of the guests, so we were the first to arrive. As we were ushered inside, I grabbed onto Steph's hand a little too tightly when I saw who was waiting in the middle of the front row next to a seat that had my name on it.

Towing Steph with me, I rushed over and leaned down to press a kiss on Peggy's cheek, trying to decide what kind of day she was having. Among people along one side of the room, I saw Sharon Carter who gave me a small thumbs up in indication that it was a good day.

"It's good to see you, Peggy," I said hoarsely. Then I tugged Steph forward the rest of the way as she was clearly trying to give us some space, and said, "I'd like you to meet Steph, Peg."

Peggy's face lit up in a smile that took me back seventy plus years, and she said, "As soon as I heard about you, I told my niece that she had to get me into this show so I could meet Steve's best girl."

Steph carefully took the hand that Peggy was holding out and said, "It's a pleasure to meet Steve's first best girl, and I'm not going to lie, it's a little intimidating too."

"Nonsense," Peggy said. "I can already see, as plain as day, how happy you make him, and that's what matters. You take care of him for me, will you? He has a tendency to be overdramatic and act as though everything in the world is his responsibility. I have a feeling you can help with that."

"I'll do my best," Steph murmured.

At that moment, Bucky stepped forward. Peggy sucked in a breath and tears filled her eyes, "we never stopped looking for Steve. If we'd known you'd survived, we would have looked for you too. I'm sorry, Bucky."

"Nah," Bucky said. "If you're going to be sorry for anything, it should be for how much damage you did to my self-confidence. Anytime Steve was around, it was like I was invisible! It was unreal, and devastating to a young soldier like myself."

"Good for you is what it was," Peggy insisted in that no-nonsense tone of hers. "Now, it looks like the rest of the crowd is coming, so we better sit down. Stephanie, I trust you don't mind sharing Steve for this?"

"I would be honored," Steph said with a grin before taking a seat one down from Peggy so I could be between them. Bucky took up his seat on the opposite side of Peggy, and the rest of the team settled around us.

When the lights came back on after the video, we stood once more. Steph leaned down and gave Peggy a hug. I did the same, adding a kiss on her cheek before straightening up again.

"Now you two go, have a good night," Peggy instructed. "And then actually live a life, Steven. You have plenty of time and a wonderful woman here to share it with."

A coughing fit took her over, and I couldn't stop myself from grasping Steph's arm in a way I was sure had to be painful. Sharon came over with water, and by the time Peggy had cleared her throat once more, I could see the telltale confusion in her eyes. "Steve… you're alive!"

My heart broke again as we went through our standard lines that I repeated with her every time it happened during my visits with her when I'd lived in D.C. By the time I finished, Sharon had a nurse over and the two of them got Peggy to standing. I watched until she was out of sight then let out a sigh.

"Alzheimer's?" Steph asked quietly.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm sorry I called her my best girl."

"I see what she meant about you being overdramatic," Steph retorted with a mix of teasing and seriousness. Then she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and, ignoring the camera clicks, I pulled her into me for a real kiss and hug. "You made her happy, Steve, and that's what matters. You've loved each other for a long time, and that doesn't take away from what we have, okay?"

I nodded, feeling choked up and unable to speak. Placing my arm around her once more, I started forward out of the movie room and onto the modern times section of the exhibit. As all of SHIELD's files on me had been dumped onto the Internet, the area was much more fleshed out than last time I'd been at the museum.

There were Avengers sections including the Battle of New York, the fall of SHIELD and my role in it, some other public missions, and Sokovia. As we were reaching the very end, a crew was just finishing work on a final image. I had no idea how they had pulled it off in an hour, but it was a life-size photo of the current team, presumably selected from those taken before we'd entered the exhibit together.

Steph stood there, staring at the life-sized her and gaping. We'd separated at some point, so walking up next to her, I shoved her gently with my shoulder. "See, it's weird isn't it."

"The weirdest," she agreed. "Do we get food now?"


	34. Lizard

**Chapter 34 - Lizard**

 _ **Steve's POV**_

The gala part of the evening was… dull. I'd always hated the stuffy dinner scene with endless schmoozing. But the process was made better by having Steph there with me. Even when we got pulled in opposite directions and had to divide and conquer the crowd, it seemed that whenever I needed her to rescue me from an awful conversation, she was there. In return, I tried to do the same for her.

And there was a dance floor, which normally would have bugged me. Instead, the few dances we managed to share were the definitely highlight of the night. Normally at such events, I'd be trying to politely turn down aggressive women, but for the most part those women were giving me a wide berth at the gala. As the evening drew to a close, and the crowd started thinning, we were able to dance for longer without interruption.

"I think they're afraid of you," I murmured to Steph, pulling her even closer knowing I was skirting the line of indecency for the formal event.

"Who?" she asked in what sounded almost like a moan.

"The women who usually hound me at these events."

"Mmmmm," Steph hummed in response. Then she added, "seems fair since you've been scaring away any men who even thought about approaching me and weren't our teammates all night long."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I whispered to her, taking the time to brush my lips across her ear as I did so.

"Steve," she groaned. "Don't tease me like that. I didn't have any sugar tonight, even after everything went sideways earlier. And we're not going to get to be alone for at least-"

She was cut off by Natasha's husky voice next to us saying, "alright you crazy kids, what do you say we blow this popsicle stand before you two create any more scenes?"

"Yes!" Steph cried enthusiastically. "Let's do that."

At the same time, I was saying, "I don't think you should make jokes like that, Nat. You'll make these people nervous."

Natasha's smile told me she was fully aware of that fact and enjoyed it. She didn't say anything in response though, just told us, "James pulled the jet around; we're going out the cafe kitchen. The Press who are in here and got to go to Steve's mini press conference have been well behaved, but there are bound to be more outside by now."

Before we could even separate and turn in that direction, alarms started blaring from all our phones. Steph looked at me with wide eyes, and I just grinned and hollered out, "Avengers, assemble!"

We ran out of the room, applause following us, and trailed Natasha as she guided us to the jet. There were still a couple of reporters outside the new exit, but as soon as they heard the alarms and caught sight of us moving at our fast pace, they stayed back and well out of the way.

Reaching the jet, I noticed Ranger and his men already inside, strapped in, and ready for flight so as to not delay us. Sam, Darcy, Natasha, Steph, and Wanda all strapped in for take-off while Clint buckled in as Bucky's co-pilot.

"FRIDAY, what do you have for us?" I asked.

"Your presence has been requested in Georgia. There is a man who is known simply as 'Lizard'. It appears that he himself is able to transform into a giant lizard and control reptiles."

"Why Georgia?" I asked.

"Alligators," Clint mused from the front.

"He is correct," FRIDAY stated. "The enemy is currently in the Okefenokee Swamp, attempting to raise an army of alligators."

"What does he want to do with his army of alligators?" Steph asked sounding a little green around the gills as everyone stood and moved to the on-board lockers to start gearing up.

"His motives appear, at the moment, to involve increasing their numbers. He has some sort of handheld device he is using to make clones. I believe long term he intends to take this army and destroy mankind."

There were a few moments of silence, and finally Thor asked, "What are these alligators or which you speak?"

"The adult male alligator is capable of naturally growing to be 11 to 15 feet long and weighing up to 999 pounds. They have 74-80 teeth and the strongest bite strength of any living animal on earth," FRIDAY started to inform everyone.

"Why do you say 'naturally growing' that way, FRIDAY?" I asked.

"It appears that when Lizard duplicates an alligator, the clone is larger and less well behaved than the original."

"Aren't alligators endangered?" Sam asked.

"The American Alligator was removed from the endangered species list in 1987," FRIDAY informed us all. "State government officials have given you the go ahead to terminate as many as necessary to defeat Lizard. They also kindly request that you kill ALL clones that you are able to find."

"These beasts sound formidable," Thor cheered. "I believe I shall enjoy our glorious battle with them greatly."

"Well, that makes one of us," Wanda shuddered.

We were silent for a moment then I asked FRIDAY, "do we know where this 'Lizard' is currently?"

"Negative. There are not very many security cameras for me to take over, and satellites are obstructed by tree cover in the swamp. I will keep searching and let you know if I find anything, but in the meantime..."

"Alright, most of us should be in pairs," I commanded. "I want Bucky with Natasha, Sam with Vision, Pietro with Wanda, and Steph with me. Rhodey and Thor, I don't think you'll need the same backup, but stick close to each other as much as possible. Clint, I want you on the jet with Ranger and his team- kill as many as you can from the back while in flight, be extra eyes, and you're the first responder if one of the teams needs to be extracted. Kill the mutant alligators, try to leave as many of the normal ones alive as possible, and search for the Lizard. First priority is taking him out. Oh, and I'd recommend we all stay out of the water as much as possible."

"The park is providing boats for your use," FRIDAY informed us.

Because I was already in uniform and didn't carry as many weapons as the others, I was the first to finish up getting ready. I strode to the other side of the jet, thanking Hal when he slid out of the way and opened one of the cabinets. Inside I found stockpiles of flares and glowsticks, handing out handfuls of each of them to everyone of my teammates.

"Steve," Steph whispered. "I don't know how to use the flares."

"It's easy," I reassured her, holding one up to show her. "This cap has a lighting surface like a box of matches. Take the cap off, hold it away from you, strike the now uncovered end against the cap, put the cap on the non-burning end, and you're all set."

I pantomimed the actions but didn't actually light the flare then stuck the handful in one of Steph's cargo pockets. When I reached to put glowsticks in the other, she shook her head, grabbed them from me, and put them in the same pocket at the flares. I was worried she was overstuffing it, but watched her make sure she could easily pull one of each out, which reassured me.

When FRIDAY helpfully pulled up videos of alligator wrestling, Bucky went to another cabinet and came back with giant rolls of super strong tape for everyone. But more important were the pictures and 3D diagrams of exactly where we could shoot one and kill it because apparently the majority of the body was basically bulletproof.

Together, the team studied the map of the park, came up with sectors, and we were dropped in pairs into our designated areas. Steph and I were the last to be dropped off, as I'd made sure we had the main entrance was assigned to us. We'd had FRIDAY coordinate with local authorities to pull back to the gate, so when we stepped off the jet, it was easy to find the necessary people to talk to. I explained who was in which sectors, agreed to let a few brave workers distribute boats though I promised they were unnecessary, and then we were on our way.

Steph and I took off at a fast jog once everything was squared away, heading into the park. "Come on," I told her. "There's a recreational area up ahead I have a good feeling about."

"Is there any chance that by 'have a good feeling,' you mean it'll be empty or the Lizard will be sitting there waiting to surrender?" Steph half jokingly asked.

"Well, I think he'll be there," I replied. "But I don't think he's going to want to give up."

"Well, one out of two is pretty good," she told me with a grin.

Steph and I both jumped sideways a couple inches the first time we heard a hiss from the brush we were running past. "That just sounds spooky," she grumbled after she recovered. "If it didn't attack, we should assume it was not a mutant and let it go, right?"

"Works for me," I agreed.

It didn't take long for us to reach the cluster of buildings to which I'd been referring, and before we completely reached the clearing, I could already tell we were in the right spot.

"Rendezvous at the Suwannee Canal Recreational Area," I commanded. "Joule and I have at least ten mutants in the clearing outside the visitor center and lights on inside."

We stood and assessed the situation while waiting for confirmation from the team. Once they were en route, I turned to Joule and asked, "want to wait for the others to get here?"

"He's probably sitting in there making more mutants and calling more regular ones to him, so I say we move now. The situation will only get worse with time."

I nodded my head resolutely and was quite relieved because that was my desired course of action as well. Nodding to Steph's pocket I pulled a flare out of mine and said, "let's light this place up so we can see what we're dealing with properly."

We set to work, lighting and throwing flares, and then moving fast toward the alligators as they came at us. Steph was the first to take one out, using her gun and she called out to me, "kill spot is bigger too, so that's at least good news."

It was only seconds after we killed the first few alligators that the side of the visitor center came crashing down and a weird lizard-man came crashing out.

"The Avengers?" he hissed.

"Yes," I hollered. "And more on the way, so why don't you just give up now."

That was a tactic that I never expected to work but felt obligated to provide to most of our adversaries anyway.

"You'll never take me!" Lizard cried out. "I will defeat you then continue to grow my reptile army!"

"I don't think this is going to go the way you think it will," Steph yelled. "So just put away the mutant-clone-making-gun and let us take you in. We'll find you some help if you want to, you know, be less lizard-y."

"I think you underestimate the powers of reptiles!" he cried.

When Steph snorted out a laugh, I looked over to see her throw a couple of the spherical grenades Bucky favored, one in each hand. The alligators she directed them at actually lunged forward to catch the flying objects in their mouths, thinking they were food. Although effective, the resulting explosion was brutally disgusting. I shot Steph an expression of disbelief, and she just laughed and called, "they're not very bright!"

Apparently that was one step too far because Lizard charged her, but I managed to move faster and engage him before he hit her. The motion of his turn, however, swung his tail around powerfully and it caught Steph right in the middle. I couldn't watch her because I was too busy trying to subdue the super strong Lizard while avoiding his claws. Still, I heard her grunt of pain over the comms and called out, "Joule?"

There were a couple seconds of panting, and some frantic sounding gunshots before she said, "yeah. I'm good."

Lizard threw me through the visitor center wall and into the building. As I was fighting, dodging, and throwing my shield around, Steph called out, "how's it going in there Cap?"

"It's very reptilian," I replied, trying not to alarm her but knowing I needed her help as there were even more alligators inside.

"Gotcha!" she yelled back. "On my way in through the extra door you made."

When she came in, I caught a brief glimpse of her long enough to see that she was holding a gun I hadn't seen before. I assumed it was something Bucky had approved, so I thought no more of it until a decent sized explosion went up in one corner of the room. Spinning I looked at Steph wide eyed and asked, "what the hell was that?"

"Stark Special!" she hollered, "don't worry, I've got the energy piece under control, I won't blow you up. Just focus on your-"

I missed the rest as I took a hit that threw me through another wall and also allowed the claws to slice through my uniform a little. Before Lizard could hit me again, an arrow struck him, three prongs shooting out to latch into his skin, and an electric charge running through it. Lizard looked down, ripped the arrow off, and snapped it in half before throwing it on the ground.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" he raged at me.

In my earpiece I heard Clint mutter, "noted," and I imagined the sound of his quiver selecting a new tip type at his command. Then he called, "Joule, I don't have eyes on you."

There were a few more explosions inside the visitor center and then I heard Joule respond, "inside is under control, I'm coming back out."

Clint and Steph made quick work of the rest of the alligators, the latter using, from what I could hear, a combination of her mini-rocket gun and the rest of her grenades. When our flares started going out, the jet lit up the area for us. I thought I almost had Lizard beat until he laughed when I had him pinned and said, "you forgot about all the _other_ reptiles in the park."

He reached down with a claw and slit my uniform pants from calf to ankle and I heard more than one telltale rattle before I felt the burning pain. I couldn't stop myself from crying out even as it started to be difficult to focus on anything other than that excruciating sensation.

I was vaguely aware of a flash of blue light as Steph cried my name then the feel of Steph's hands grabbing me under my armpits and dragging me before I finally passed out.

I awoke to that standard heart-monitor beeping and lights that were too bright for the way my head felt, even if my eyes were still closed. Taking a mental assessment, I realized I didn't feel too rough and slowly opened my eyes. As soon as I blinked a couple times and focused, I saw Steph staring at me from across the way still fully in uniform.

Noticing I was awake, Steph smiled, called out to Dr. Cho, then walked over to me. I held my outside hand out, and she took it in hers then reached up with her free hand to run her fingers along my face.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes," Steph replied. "Four that I saw."

"The team?" I questioned next.

"They're all good, though everyone but Thor and Vision are still traveling home. Actually, they should be arriving any minute now. We didn't have time to wait for them because we needed to get anti-venom in you. Super Soldier or not, those were some big snakes and a lot of venom."

"Lizard?"

Steph moved out of the way as Dr. Cho came in and started taking my vitals, but she told me, "yeah… about that… you know those balls of energy I make?" When I nodded my head, studying her carefully, she continued, "well, it seems I can make kind of streams of energy."

"So long as you and Wanda don't cross the streams, I guess," I managed to tease. It was totally worth it when Steph laughed and beamed with delight at my _Ghostbusters_ reference.

Apparently satisfied with what she saw, Dr. Cho smiled and said, "okay, Captain. Want to try getting up?"

In response, I slowly sat up and swung my legs over the table. Steph hovered by my side, still holding my hand as I rose to my feet. I waited a beat to make sure I really did feel okay before nodding my head and rolling my shoulders back. "Need anything else, Doc?" I asked.

Dr. Cho just laughed and said, "nope, I'll just make another tally in the super serum column of my mental scorecard of death vs. super serum."

"I don't think I want to know everything that is on that list," Steph grumbled.

With a chuckle, I pulled her into my side and pressed a kiss to her brow. "Well, it is pretty impressive since it includes 'being frozen for seventy years' in the super-serum column. But the way I see things, it was definitely your turn to worry."

"Psh," Steph said. "That was way worse than anything I've done."

"Steph, you had bombs go off right in front of you and a wall collapse on top of you."

"Steve, you had four snakes of the species considered to be the most dangerous venomous snake in North America bite you. And we're pretty sure since Lizard was controlling them, and you went down as fast as you did, that they dumped all their venom into you."

"Yeah, well, you scared at least a year off my life with that rocket gun of yours. Where did you even find that?"

"Clint mentioned it when you sent him to check up on Bucky and I that day in the weapons range," Steph told me.

"I knew I shouldn't have sent Clint as soon as he was out of sight," I sighed.

"Sent me where?" Clint asked with the rest of the team trailing behind him. I carefully studied each one for injuries, relieved when I didn't see anything alarming.

"To supervise Bucky and Steph when they were terrifying people with talk of flamethrowers," I explained.

"Ah yes!" Bucky rubbed his hands together excitedly. "The mini-rocket gun. Does that mean you used it today, Steph? How was it?"

"The grenades were the best because the alligators were catching them if I threw them in their direction, but the rocket gun worked really well too," she reported. "I'm definitely going to keep carrying that if Stark doesn't mind keeping me in the ammo.

"Ugh, is that gunk you have all over you _alligator goo_?!" Darcy shuddered as she pointed at Steph.

With a glance down, Steph said, "mostly. Yeah, exploding animals they can get a little messy, that's for sure. I'm thinking it was better than the alternative though, and it gives me a nice energy input, especially when I have to use them in confined spaces."

"Little bits of alligator goo covering you is better than losing an arm," Darcy agreed.

"You were exploding things in confined spaces?" Ranger asked as he entered the room. "Good to see you up and about, Cap. Is it alright if I let Bobby know? He was freaked the fuck out about being responsible if you died while under his care!"

I nodded at Ranger to let him know it was okay, and added, "tell him thanks for whatever he did."

Ranger pulled out his phone and tapped out a message, then he turned and stared at Steph with one brow raised.

"I had it under control," Steph explained lazily. "Look at Steve, he wasn't singed even a little bit at any point, was he? And besides, Bucky and I practiced. A lot."

And to think, just a day ago, before I knew better, I'd been excited about how much the two of them seemed to enjoy their time together with weapons training.


	35. Morelli

**Chapter 35 - Morelli**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

By the time we managed to go to bed after our run-in with Lizard, it was four in the morning. Thank goodness Coulson had shown up at Okefenokee and taken over the cleanup coordination, so the rest of our team was able to get home and debrief more quickly than they would have been able to otherwise. As I could easily see becoming a tradition of ours, Steve and I enjoyed an enthusiastic round of adrenaline/glad-we're-both-alive sex once we finally alone in our room together. The result was that we didn't go to sleep until after the sun was coming up.

Unfortunately for me, the combination of reliving how pale Steve had been after the snake bites while unconscious in the jet, the energy I'd absorbed during the battle, and my delight over my first complete, official mission, meant there was no way I was sleeping. I stayed cuddled up with Steve for a good hour after he fell asleep, just basking in the glow of having him with me and healthy. Once I got to the point where I felt I couldn't stay still though, I didn't want to wake him, so I got up.

As quietly as I could, I moved about the room, changing into shorts and a tank before pulling both my thigh holsters on and heading out. I shut the door carefully behind me, letting out a sigh of relief when I managed to make it all the way out of the room without waking Steve. I quickly stuck my feet in my shoes and exited the Avengers living quarters. I began with a run around the grounds, knowing Steve probably wouldn't get to it and felt better knowing that someone had completed one each day.

When I got to the little path to Steve's property, I followed it and stood in the clearing for a few moments. For the first time, I could imagine myself actually having a house, husband, kids, and the whole deal. What's more is I could picture having those things while also living here, with Steve, and both being Avengers. I had no doubt it would be difficult, but it was so clear and obvious in my mind that I knew it could work. If Steve wanted it too.

Not allowing myself to get too caught up in the daydream, I turned back around and finished my run. Then I moved through all the paces at the gym before walking down the hallway to Natasha's dance studio. I was nervous, but I knocked on the door anyway. When there was no answer, I opened the door, relieved that I had been granted access, and called out as I entered. The place was dark, but FRIDAY switched on the lights as I strode into the empty space.

Deciding I really was alone, I made my way to the picture window on the far side of the room and settled onto the cushions there. I closed my eyes and focused on my life energy, touching it, moving it around my body, and generally getting more used to manipulating it.

At one point, I heard a very faint noise and opened my eyes as Natasha walked in. There was no doubt in my mind that she had seen me, so when she didn't say anything, simply started her music quietly and began her routine, I let out a breath and went back to what I was doing.

Eventually, I heard someone other than Natasha clear their throat, and startled back to reality. I let out a surprised gasp when I hit the ground, apparently having levitated myself slightly.

I opened my eyes once more and saw Clint, Sam, Wanda, and a reluctant looking Bucky standing there with Natasha who had finished what she was doing I didn't know how long ago. Oh, crap, one mission and I was already kicked off the team. That was fun while it lasted.

Sam sighed and everyone else chuckled, and Natasha just shook her head saying, "that's not what's happening here, you did well last night. When Bucky and I woke up, I asked FRIDAY who else was already awake. I expected you to be with the others, and you weren't so I found you here."

"I'm sorry, I know this is your space," I started.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright," Natasha cut in. "You haven't seen Cap go down yet, so you're not used to the insanity of the serum practically bringing him back from the dead."

I looked down at the ground but shrugged and tried to play it off like it was no big deal, "I couldn't sleep, so I came here to meditate."

With a mechanical whirring noise, a metal hand showed up in front of my face and wiggled its fingers at me. Eventually, I looked up the arm at Bucky and sighed before taking the hand and letting him easily pull me to my feet.

"How long have you been in here?" Wanda asked.

"I don't actually know…" I responded.

"FRIDAY?" Natasha called. "How long has Steph been in here?"

"Three hours and eight minutes," FRIDAY intoned.

"Come on, let's go get some breakfast," Bucky gruffly instructed while tugging on my arm.

"You Super Soldiers," I teased, feeling lighter from the effort alone. "It's always eat, eat, eat. Food, food, food."

"Unless they want to fuck," Natasha plainly said, not a hint of embarrassment in her face when I looked at her wide eyed. Sam made a choked noise in response, and Clint just let out a resigned sigh before Natasha shrugged and added, "well, it's true! Steph can back me up."

"Huh what?" I stalled, not really wanting to talk about that with the group. "Oh, hold on a second, my phone's ringing. I'll meet you there!"

I motioned for them to move forward while pretending to try to pull my phone out of my pocket. Which was tricky because I realized I didn't have my phone. So I started backing up to try to dodge around a corner in a reasonable amount of time to not give that fact away.

Natasha was watching me, highly amused, and told me, "I will give you ten thousand dollars if you can show me your phone right now."

Clint just looked pained as he complained, "oh, come on, I know we taught you better than that, Steph!"

With a helpless shrug I replied, "well, I couldn't use anything you taught me, otherwise you'd recognize it! And it definitely would have worked if I had my phone… I'm really good at one-sided conversations. Trust me, if you spend enough time with Tank, you have to be."

The three spies just shook their heads sadly and gave me a look that promised spycraft drills later, but we moved as one down the hallway again. Hey, at least I'd managed to waylay the conversation from details about my sex life with Steve.

As we neared the cafeteria, Wanda spoke into my mind, "you can always wake me up this way, Stephanie. You don't need to suffer alone."

"I don't think it counts as suffering when Steve is actually fine," I mentally protested. "And it certainly was not worth a wake-up call."

"Your Captain does these things a lot- he views all of our lives as more important than his. A little bit of lost sleep to keep you happy is well within the bounds of being a fair price to pay for what he does for the team. Plus, I can feel the energy overflowing in you once again. Do not pretend you couldn't replace the sleep I would lose."

"Considering how late we all were up last night, it is too early for freaky mind speak!" Clint protested, staring back and forth between Wanda and my glowing eyes.

"Sorry Clint," we chorused in unison before breaking out in giggles over his look of disgust.

We all lined up to order, and when I got to the front, I noticed Mary on duty. She smiled kindly when she saw me and said, "Joule! How is the Captain?"

"He's good, thanks!" I answered. "Still sleeping, I think, but that super serum sure is a wonder! He'll be like nothing ever happened to him by the time he wakes up."

Two big arms slid around my waist from behind, and Steve rumbled quietly in my ear, "I'd be better if you'd been in bed with me when I woke up." To Mary he simply offered her a greeting, reassured her that he was fine, and ordered his usual.

I sighed and settled leaning back into him as we waited for our food, closing my eyes to savor the feeling of him standing so strong behind me. As much as I'd enjoyed the life-affirming sex in the early morning hours after debrief, there was something so much more comforting about being back in our routine. I thought it was because that type of sex was still a sign that something major had happened, while the routine was just… normal. It signaled that everything was alright and could go back to the way it was.

"I ran the perimeter," I whispered to him.

Steve pressed a kiss to the top of my head and quietly responded, "thanks."

I shifted a little and felt something firm and definitely not a weapon on the small of my back just before I stepped forward to grab my food. "Seriously?!" I hissed out in disbelief as we started walking toward the various tables. "We're in the middle of the cafeteria."

"Again, you weren't there when I woke up to take care of me. Plus, this outfit is…"

He trailed off and I looked down at my tank, shorts, and guns. "It's the holsters isn't it? Here I was worried I looked a little Lara Croft."

We were walking past the table Ranger and my Merry Men were sitting at as I said that, and without even looking up Ram muttered, "Lara Croft is hot."

Turning to him, I set my food down momentarily and asked, "yeah, but that's the huge boobs not the guns right?"

"Both," all my Merry Men chorused at once.

"Huh," I replied surprised. "Well, who knew?"

"Everybody," came another completely in unison response, and I picked up my tray with a huff.

Before I could move away, there was a bunch of shifting around and a pair of spots opened up on either side of the table next to where Steve and I were stopped. I looked over at Steve to gauge his reaction, but he was already moving to sit in the wider of the two spots. With a shrug, I took the open spot next to Ram.

For the most part we ate in silence, everyone seemingly in their own mind and contemplating things. I didn't know about everyone else, but my thoughts were primarily occupied with a certain ex of mine I knew was somewhere in our facility.

I bugged me down to my core that Morelli wasn't who I thought he was at all. As much as I knew our relationship wasn't really _good_ for me, I had believed it to be a mutual compatibility issue more than anything else. We hit each other's buttons and just had personalities that didn't mesh. But now I had to actually examine the possibility that Morelli was not just an ass, but an actual honest to God bad guy and I hadn't known it. I had lived with a man and not realized that about his character. What did that make me?

"It makes you someone who sees the good in people, and it makes Morelli a manipulative son of a bitch," Tank said calmly. "It's not on you; it's on him. And remember, none of us saw it either because you can bet your ass we would have shown you until you saw it as the truth and gotten you out of there if we had."

Judging by the way Tank said something that fit perfectly into my thoughts and everyone was looking at me, I had to assume that I had said some or all of those thoughts out loud. Which wasn't what I'd intended, but Tank's sentiment made me feel better, so I couldn't regret it. Steve reached his hand across the table to take mine up to offer support but remained silent as the others offered similar opinions to Tank's.

I let go of Steve's hand so that he could finish his food, and toyed with mine only a little longer. Eventually I gave up on eating for the moment, so I slid my tray across to Steve and watched as he frowned a little but finished the food anyway. When he'd finished, he stacked our trays together and then turned to me, saying, "alright, let's gather Natasha and Bucky and see about questioning Morelli." Then he looked at the rest of the table and added, "you're welcome to observe if you'd like, but I'm going to ask all of you not to have any further direct contact with Morelli until we've gotten all the information out of him we can."

 _ **Natasha's POV**_

Bucky and I walked into the interrogation room, sat across the desk from Morelli and stared silently.

"Finally!" the man cried out. "I've been locked in here for days since that gangster thug chained me down in here! If you let me go, I won't have him arrested, but that's the best I can do for you and only if you let me go immediately."

I leaned forward and said, "Mister Morelli, you know who we are."

It wasn't a question, and he didn't even acknowledge the statement as he said, "you can't keep me here, it's illegal. A violation of my rights."

"Mister Morelli," Bucky said, laying his metal arm out on the table and smirking ever so minutely when he saw Morelli's eyes fixate on it. "We are not law enforcement, not really. We don't play by the same rules, and we have immunity."

"You won't hurt me, you're the good guys," Morelli insisted, his tone telling me exactly what he thought of good guys.

"Do you know what the word Avenger even means?" Bucky asked. "It means we right wrongs done to us and to others, and Joule, well, she's one of us and even if she wasn't, seems to me we have a laundry list of things we could do to you in the name of avenging her."

"I never did a damn thing to her! That bitch is-" Morelli yelled, only to be cut out when my hand shot across the table, grabbed his head, and smashed it down on the table.

"Never did a damn thing to her?" I cried in disbelief. "Let's set aside the years of emotional abuse and settle on the sheer fact that you shot her! You admitted to shooting her to Captain America! If you thought he would take mercy on you, you're sorely mistaken. He was the first Avenger, and believe me when he has a cause, nothing stops him. Certainly not taking pity on useless piles of shit like you."

Morelli looked like he was going to offer a retort, but before he could, Bucky said, "Speaking of the night you shot Joule, tell me what you saw."

"Why do you keep calling her that? Even if she's dating Captain America, she's worthless. Certainly not worthy of being one of you, no matter what magic tricks she managed to learn. And I'm not talking to anyone but her."

I was about to tell him that he wouldn't be getting anything he wanted anytime soon when the door to the interrogation room opened and Steph walked in. As displeased as I was with this development, I could see Cap behind her looking even more so but following her anyway. Steph leaned casually against the wall but didn't say anything, so I had to pretend that it had been the plan all along.

"There she is. Talk." I instructed.

"How are you Steph?" Morelli asked, eyes fixated on her. "I've missed you, when are you going to come home."

Steph studiously ignored him, pretending to inspect her nails while remaining silent.

"What the Hell, Cupcake? I'm talking to you!"

"The night you shot Steph, how'd you know to find her there?" this time it was Steve talking as he stepped forward, shoulders back to make himself appear as large as possible.

"I already told you, I knew she'd show up there eventually, so I was staking the place out. I also had informants on retainer to tell me if they saw her. As soon as you hit Trenton city limits, I came for you Steph. Bob misses you."

"Who is Bob?" Bucky asked.

"His dog," Steph finally spoke. "And a euphemism for something he'll never be getting from me again."

"You just wait, Steph. Eventually this lot will see what a screw up you are. You're nothing but a complete and utter disaster. And once they figure it out and kick you to the curb, you'll come crawling back to Trenton. Then I'll have you again, one way or another."

The threat was so thinly veiled it might as well have just been plainly stated but before any of us could respond, Steph grabbed Joe up in some variation of her energy force field and hauled him out of the chair, slamming him into the wall effortlessly. Morelli was struggling fruitlessly as Steph calmly stepped up until she was right in his face and said in a deadly calm, "touch me again and die. Now answer the goddamn questions, enough of this posturing bullshit. Any one of us could destroy you single-handedly and you're outnumbered four to one. Believe me, you don't want to piss us off."

The glow in her eyes cut out as she dropped him to the ground, and turned her back on him. From the look on her face, I could tell she was expecting the move, wanted it even, as he charged at her from behind still restrained. Instead of using her powers this time, Steph just turned around and kneed him in the balls with everything she had- and she'd gotten decidedly stronger over the past couple weeks.

Morelli made a strangled noise and hit the ground trying ineffectively to grab at his hurt junk as his hands were restrained behind him. When we'd watched him flail around on the ground for a full minute, Steve eventually stepped forward and lifted the man up, sitting him in the chair. Then he walked back to the wall Steph was once again leaning against looking completely nonplussed and crossed his arms over his chest to observe once more.

"If you were staking out the place, then you saw who put the bomb on the bike," I prompted.

Morelli looked petulant but answered nonetheless with, "I didn't get there until after they went inside, and I didn't see anyone mess with the bike. So whoever it was must have put the bomb on between when Steph arrived and when I got there."

I noticed he didn't mention that Steve had arrived at the same time, but decided to leave it for the time being. The man was clearly still hung up on Steph, and it might be something we could push him with later.

"Who did you see leaving the area as you arrived?"

"Nobody, just a police cruiser with Big Dog in it, but that's it. He was probably just patrolling the area."

Because I was studying him so carefully, I could tell that was what he honestly believed. It stood to reason that Big Dog was probably the one who planted the bomb, but Morelli didn't know he was dirty and I saw no reason to give him that useful piece of intel.

Apparently our silence had stretched on long enough for Morelli to be feeling confident once more as he looked at Steph again and asked, "did you get my cupcakes, Cupcake?"

Bucky's leg moved fast and hard under the table, and judging by the reaction on Morelli's face, I assumed Bucky kicked him in the shin before warning, "you don't get to call her that."

"Why not, she's tasty, and sweet, and good to ea-"

Before he could finish the word, Steve was across the room landing another punch. I could hear the smack of Morelli's flesh under Steve's fist and wasn't at all surprised when Morelli slumped unconscious in his chair.

"Well, it's going to be hard to question him now," Bucky said slowly. "What with him being unconscious and all. Between you and Natasha, he's probably got a concussion by now."

I stood, gesturing for Bucky to do the same. "We'll leave him here, with orders for no one to have contact with him, even once, he wakes until tomorrow. By then he'll be more talkative." I waited until we'd all exited the room with the door firmly shut behind us to add, "but he's not HYDRA, he doesn't know Big Dog is, so I'm guessing he doesn't know the other HYDRA cops. And he's not going to be any help to us. We're going to have to start busting down doors of the possible hide-outs we've discovered, most probable first. But HYDRA knows Steph's on the team now and they're going to guess that we're onto them. We don't have time to waste with this worthless piece of shit. We need to move."

"Agreed," Steve immediately offered.

"Yep," Steph added.

And Bucky just nodded his head.

"Alright, let's rally the troops then," I said. "Take a look at today's data, then we'll move out."


	36. Preparations

**A/N:** I know I haven't responded to every review/comment the last couple of chapters or been posting on my usual schedule. What can I say other than "family drama"? Hoping that's wrapping up and I'll get my act together here, but just know that I treasure each and every review/comment!

 **Chapter 36 - Preparations**

 _ **Steve's POV**_

Planning missions was always difficult. When it came down to it, I was in charge of field operations and got the final say in what strategies we used, when we went, and everything in between. But that didn't mean that there weren't more than a few heated discussions along the way.

This time around it was even trickier. With Lizard, we'd had to rush into a situation that was dangerous for civilians and would only to grow increasingly more so as time went on. Attacking a suspected HYDRA base was a different matter. We didn't know of an immediate threat, other than just their existence, so we had more time for planning. On the other hand, we were fairly certain that they'd feel compelled to move soon given that the Avenger's newest member came from the same city as their current base of operations.

Anyone who had as much training with and as high of clearance from SHIELD as Grant Ward had before it fell knew better than to assume something like that was a coincidence.

Grant Ward wouldn't be a fool or easily taken. He'd been a specialist not too long ago, and he wouldn't suffer from the same flaws that the usual managers- who had been out of the field for too long- did. That meant our plan had to be precise and executed with exacting care.

Above all else, we had to keep our emotions in check, and that was going to be tough. Though they had joined up with HYDRA initially willingly, both Wanda and Pietro felt betrayed because they had been lied to and given false hopes at such an early age and for so long. Not to mention their treatment after they'd agreed had been poor. HYDRA had kept them essentially prisoner in individual small, unbreakable glass cells for years.

Natasha and Clint came from similar places. When Clint was young, he'd taken a questionable path, falling in with a band of criminals and generally being not a good guy. But all that had changed when he'd met Coulson. Coulson had initially been meant to stop Clint, by detaining him or through more final means, but instead Coulson had chosen to bring Clint into the fold. Though suspicious, Clint had eventually signed on, and, against all odds, he'd become a good guy again.

As far as Natasha was concerned, well, it was _definitely_ personal. Natasha either didn't know or wasn't telling at what age or how she'd come to be in the hands of the KGB's Red Room, though she'd made references in the past to having to do spy work, and even kill, as a small child. Hers was the story of a young girl who hadn't stood a chance in the world. Tortured, brainwashed, and made into a fierce seductress and assassin. The Black Widow program had created many graduates, but only one was so good, so legendary, that she became _THE_ Black Widow.

When Clint had been sent to eliminate Natasha, she confessed that she'd been at the end of her rope. They'd fought, and Clint had her in his crosshairs, bow locked on her chest and only a few feet away. Hawkeye, as he was called even then, didn't miss, and he could have completed her mission and killed her in that moment. Instead, he'd offered her the same thing Coulson had offered him- a way out. She'd taken it, and it had taken months for her to work her way out of the KGB's programming and find herself as a person, something she'd never known in her entire life. Once she was stable and field ready, she'd taken to working for SHIELD with a resolve that, according to her file, no one had seen before. When I'd asked her about it, she simply said that she had a lot of red in her ledger that she wanted to wipe out.

But I suspected, especially in watching her relationship with Bucky unfold, that it was more than that. SHIELD had allowed her to create the only home she'd ever known. It was true that she hadn't trusted many people on a personal level, but she'd believed in SHIELD. When she'd discovered that HYDRA had infiltrated every level, it had broken her. In retaliation, she'd broken shield, then gone off to lick her wounds. Before long though, she'd come back with one mission: eliminate HYDRA. We thought we had done that, cut off all the heads, but with more having grown back, well, the Black Widow was thirsting for blood once more.

Bucky, of course, had arguably the worst history with the organization. He'd been held captive for DECADES, brainwashed, used as a weapon, and kept in a tube frozen anytime he wasn't of use. Each time he'd been brought out, his programming would break at least a little, causing them to need to reprogram him. That process was one Bucky still wouldn't talk about other than to say it had been extremely unpleasant.

My history with HYDRA was well documented. Destroying them was the primary reason for my creation, and during my first interaction with them, they'd killed Doctor Erskine, a man who in a very short time had become a second father to me. Then they'd taken away Bucky, who may as well have been my brother, and even if they hadn't actually killed him, the hurt was still there, not to mention what they'd done with him (or Steph). Finally, they'd taken away the life I'd dreamed of, and when I'd begun to start to make a life for myself again in present time, it had been at SHIELD- only to have HYDRA take that life away too.

Thor, Sam, Rhodey, and Vision were the least affected by HYDRA. Rhodey, as war machine, had been on HYDRA's hit list with Project Insight, so that was plenty of cannon fodder for him. Sam had interacted with them over the course of just the couple of days of shaking them out of SHIELD. But, over those days, they'd tried to kill him numerous times, not to mention those that came in the months to follow while trying to track down Bucky. To say Thor was displeased by HYDRA's use of and experimentation with Loki's scepter was a vast understatement. And Vision had access to all of SHIELD's data from HYDRA because of his initial intelligence upload from JARVIS, and he'd read all the files of information since that time, and as he proclaimed himself "on the side of life," he took HYDRA's several attempts at mass murder and extermination extremely personally.

Steph's association with HYDRA was only weeks old, and in that time they'd kidnapped her, shot her, tried to blow her up, and generally made a fast enemy of her. And then there were her own personal betrayals, similar to what Natasha, Clint, and I had gone through with SHIELD. When Steph had explained HYDRA's involvement in Trenton and in the events that had happened to her recently to her "Merry Men," well, let's just say they hadn't taken that well at all.

And Coulson's team had arrived an hour into our strategy session, summoned by Natasha, and boy was that another group with severe HYDRA problems. After Bucky, their feelings were probably the most intense as the leader of this faction had been a member of their team. One who thoroughly betrayed them, killed a member of their first post fall of SHIELD base's team, and had an incredibly unhealthy obsession with Skye. Coulson had brought additional team members this time around, including some sort of ex of Grant Ward's. Then there was the couple, Bobbi (short for Barbara) Morse and Lance Hunter, a couple who had been married, divorced, and were dating again. Morse was unable to go into the field yet as she was still undergoing rehab from Ward torturing her, so she would be helping run operations from our base and was none to happy to be benched.

Knowing all of this had helped me with my struggle not to lose my temper when those disagreements about how we would attack invariably occurred. And they'd started with which location was most likely to be the base, and thus we should launch our initial assault on. We all knew there was a possibility that we'd choose incorrectly, but we had to rank the list in order from most probable to least and start busting down doors in that order. Not knowing how many men we'd be taking on or if they had any enhanced, I'd refused to break down the team into smaller groups and attack multiple locations at once.

As the arguing about the data was going on, I couldn't stop watching Steph. She was flipping through information on her tablet, and largely ignoring everyone else with a look on her face that was all but screaming "spidey sense" to me. Just before I could ask her what was going on, she finally spoke.

"FRIDAY," Steph yelled to be heard over the din and caused everyone else to instantly quiet down. "You have a new location in your list today on Comstock Street, and your probabilities and information are clearly changing by the moment. Why is that?"

"I apologize for the uncertainty," FRIDAY began. "However, I only discovered the pattern a short time ago and I have been working on it as processes allow."

"Halt all other location searches and dedicate your resources to this location as your top priority," Steph instructed.

There was a pause followed by a deafening argument from the group. Holding my hand up to quiet them again, I focused on Steph and said, "this location isn't one of the one's we've observed and tracked before today. Why do you think it needs priority?"

"First of all, I think the fact that it isn't one of the locations we've been monitoring makes it more likely to be the primary base for them. Just think of it, one of the things that has been driving us nuts and is making this decision is so difficult is that we could never spot very many of our people of interest at once in any of these locations. That makes it more likely that they're used as minor safe houses, stash locations, coordination points, places that they take those they don't trust to know the location of their base, and so on, right?"

"Yes," Natasha said quietly, and I could see others nodding along. "What else, Steph?"

"If I'm reading this right, FRIDAY's seen vehicles, large vehicles that could hold multiple occupants, moving from most of the other locations to this new location today," Steph informed us.

"That is correct," FRIDAY chimed in.

"There's more," Bucky said, carefully watching her face.

Steph shifted nervously and said, "Believe me, I know this isn't about me, but…"

Immediately on alert, I prompted, "but what?"

"You told me once that Grant Ward had only been in the area for a short time, but that he'd managed to grow his numbers so rapidly, and Trenton's corruption had always been so severe, that you wondered if HYDRA had always been in Trenton," Steph explained.

I nodded and verbally agreed saying, "yes, we're fairly certain that Trenton has been on HYDRA's radar for several years now, if not the past couple decades."

"And we talked about how you thought one of the ways that HYDRA kept Trenton unstable was to support and feed the gang wars and the various mafia associations in the area, right?"

"Well, that makes sense," Ranger murmured. "Keeps attention off whatever HYDRA is doing, and those things tend to bring their own sources of corruption as well, making it easier for HYDRA to worm their way into pretty much anything they want to."

Taking a deep breath, Steph commanded, "FRIDAY, put the location on the primary screen for everyone to see."

As soon as the Merry Men took in the location each and every one of them tensed up and started swearing up a blue streak. Except for Hector who began muttering in Spanish and caressing his knives in a way I'd previously only seen Natasha do while using a similar tone with her Russian.

"What is this place, Joule?" Thor asked, having picked up on the vibe as well. "What does it mean to you and your comrades in arms?"

Steph started by relaying the story for those on Coulson's team, as well as Thor, who hadn't heard it before of her run in with one of Trenton's gangs, the Comstock Street Slayer. When she reached the end, she eyed me cautiously and proceeded to tell us exactly how it had ended, something she'd glossed over in the end. My jaw tightened so much I had to consciously ease up for fear of breaking a tooth before she ended the story with, "that's where they took me when they kidnapped me- to the playground right next to the apartment building that FRIDAY flagged today."

There were a few beats of silence as everyone processed that information, and then I said, "FRIDAY, everything you have."

"As Joule told you, I've been tracking the movement of various vehicles from many of the other locations of interest, all converging on this location. The first from each location all left within thirty minutes of each other early this morning. The location itself, I've used various Stark Industries satellites with different imaging capabilities, and the results are interesting. The most telling is perhaps that heat signatures picked up by the thermal images disappear once they reach a certain distance inside the building."

"I assume Stark's satellites are top of the line as far as such things are concerned," I slowly thought out loud. "How deep underground would they have to be to disappear?"

"Several stories," FRIDAY quickly replied. "Depending on how large each was, but I project that you will discover a significant underground base at this location."

"What happened after Steph's friend mowed down all those slayers?" Bucky asked the Trenton group.

Ranger rubbed the back of his head and sighed saying, "some of the Slayers stuck around, but they were much smaller in numbers and were very disorganized. The Junkman had been brought into kill Steph but also to be potential new leadership. He was dead and their highest ranking members were put in jail. That sight and a couple blocks around it were completely abandoned by the Slayers."

"There had to have been cops crawling all over that place," Natasha chewed on her thumb as she studied the maps. "Too many for them to stack the deck completely in their own favor. HYDRA would have been pissed and probably ran the gang out of the area to keep their lair from being discovered. Steph's right, this is it."

There was a round of agreement and from there we were able to begin the planning stages once more, this time with greater confidence that we'd be knocking on HYDRA's door the first attempt. When we eventually got to the point where we broke into the smaller teams that were going to be working together inside the base to talk strategy, Natasha pulled me aside.

"When we're done here, you're going to instruct everyone to suit up and be ready to go in an hour. The excuse is that everyone needs to gear up and eat a decent meal before we go, but you and Steph need some time together, I think. Don't try to argue with my Rogers, I can feel the tension between you both. I'll handle food for you and set it outside your room, and knock once. Eat it while you _talk_."

"Half an hour," I countered, and the smug look on Natasha's face told me that she hadn't expected me to take a full hour anyway.

All she said was, "make sure she understands that you're okay, otherwise she's going to be distracted thinking you're still suffering ill effects from last night's snake venom."

"I'm fine," I argued.

" _I_ know that," she retorted. "Make sure Joule knows that as well. If you're not sure what to do, there are a few _techniques_ I could recommend."

With a sigh I said, "Natasha, we're not doing that right before a mission."

"Hey, it'll relieve some of that tension she's carrying around right now."

Noticing that Natasha was right, Steph did seem tense, I moved over to where Steph and Bucky were planning out how our small strike team was going to accomplish the initial breach of HYDRA's security. I started rubbing her shoulders, effectively ending my side conversation with Natasha, and noticed a twinkle in Bucky's eyes that told me he'd heard every word. We finished before the other teams, so I announced wheels up in 45 minutes, ignored Natasha's snort of laughter and Bucky's chuckle, and encouraged everyone to use that time to eat in addition to finishing planning.

Then I whisked Steph away to our rooms and spend the first 25 minutes using a joint shower to show Steph that I was feeling very good. As we dried off, Steph eyed me with a wry smile and asked, "what about that whole 'take some time to eat and finish planning. Get your game faces on' thing? Does that not apply to us?"

In response, I simply wrapped the towel around my waist and walked over to the bedroom door. I pulled it open, reached down, and grabbed two trays of food before shutting the door with my foot and setting them on the bed.

"Natasha thought we might need some alone time to reassure you that I was back at full strength, and I figured it couldn't hurt to make sure that wasn't distracting you during the mission. She procured some food for us, eat quickly," I told her. "We've got twenty minutes to eat, get dressed, and gear up."

When Steph moved to get dressed first, I decided to eat quickly so that we wouldn't be tripping over each other in the closet and as we prepared. While I was eating, Steph looked at me with feigned casualness and said, "I stopped by your property when I was running the perimeter this morning."

Because I was trying to figure out why that appeared to embarrass her, I smiled and said, "oh yeah, why's that?"

"I don't know," she said, not a hint of a lie in her expression. "I just felt drawn to it, and when I was there, it just felt… peaceful. Right somehow."

I studied her quietly, and thought about how easily she'd fit into my life so far. When I thought about that piece of land, I thought of building a house there for Steph and maybe even starting a family there with her sometime down the road. Continuing to study her, I said, "well then, maybe we should get married. That'll make it half yours too."

Her jaw went slack and she stared at me in what I was relieved to note was surprise and not panic. Finally she said, "we've only known each other for something like a month, Steve. Don't you think that's too soon?"

Shrugging I said, "clearly you do, so it must be. But I love you, and I'm sick of waiting to have the life I always wanted. Whenever you're ready, just tell me."

Steph watched me for a few more minutes before nodding her head and finishing what she was doing. When she walked back over to the bed, she pressed a kiss on my cheek and whispered, "well, I have to say I'm pretty sick of trying to live life by everyone else's rules, and I love you too. So hell, why not?"

I barked out a laugh and said, "you know, that's not exactly the enthusiasm I always imagined getting when I asked that question."

"Technically, you didn't ask," Steph told me. But she gave me a big kiss and teased, "that make it up to you?"

"For now," I laughed out. Steph was done dressing, so she sat down on the bed to start eating. Finishing off my food, I cleared my trash then moved to the dresser to grab one of Steph's hair ties. When I settled down behind her, I pressed a few nibbling kisses along her neck and murmured, "sorry I didn't really ask."

Steph just shrugged and said, "well, I've done the whole fancy proposal and wedding thing before back when I was focused on trying to please… Helen, and look where that got me. Can this one just be about us?"

Truthfully, I wasn't thrilled with the idea of turning our relationship, engagement, and wedding into a big spectacle, so I happily agreed while I set about quickly braiding Steph's hair. By the time I finished with her hair and getting dressed, we had ten minutes left to wheels up, so I grabbed the trays and we jogged out of the room together. The trays I left on the counter, which I would rather deal with myself, but time was of the essence.

As Steph and I stood side by side, grabbing remaining gear from our lockers than going through the arsenal for supplies we wanted to take with us, I couldn't stop myself from continually looking sideways at her and smiling. Finally, with two minutes to spare, Bucky clapped us both on the shoulder and said, "come on, lovebirds. Let's go show HYDRA who's boss, then you can both tell us what has you so happy as we revel in our victory."


	37. HYDRA

**Chapter 37 - HYDRA**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

Running up flights of stairs with two super soldiers and one super spy (who was kind of your work-idol and you didn't know if she was modified or just way better than you) was damn humbling. Still I knew my athleticism had increased over the past few weeks since I'd been working so hard at it, and I wasn't embarrassing myself too badly.

"Yep, this is why we do cardio," Natasha grunted from the landing just above me.

"Did I say that out loud?" I panted out.

"Nope, but you're thinking it pretty loudly," Steve said. "Come on, we're almost there."

"Remind me again why we're going in this way first instead of just all of us going through the ground floor doors or the roof doors with the rest of the team," I said as we reached our destination on the roof of the apartment building across from the HYDRA base building.

"We can go in through doors if we need to," Steve explained. "But they're choke points, easy to be shot at from, and this way has a better element of surprise."

"I still think it's payback for when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island and you threw up," Bucky grumbled.

When I couldn't hold back the small laugh and smile, Bucky scowled at me and I shook my head, laughing harder and saying, "sorry, Bucky. That doesn't work at me anymore, even with the uniform. You don't scare me."

"I'm still Steve's best friend," Bucky said.

"Yeah, but you told me you like me and approve of me, so I'm not afraid of you making him dump me anymore."

"Right, plus we're getting married," Steve said in an absent, offhand manner that made me think he hadn't really been listening to the conversation or thought about the words before they left his mouth. That was a rare moment for him, but since he was masterminding a mission, I guessed I could understand the distraction.

If real life was like a movie though, that would have been when you heard the record scratch sound and everything went dead quiet. Not just in our immediate space with Bucky and Natasha, but over the comms as well because Steve was on the general communications channel with the Avengers, Ranger's team, and everyone at base.

I was staring him in disbelief when he obviously realized what he'd said and startled before looking at Bucky and Natasha then sheepishly turning his gaze to me. "I'm sorry, I'm excited," he said while flashing me what could only be called sad puppy dog eyes.

I puckered up and made him give me a kiss before patting him on the chest and telling him it was okay. I watched quietly as they set up the zipline, but when Steve picked up his shield, pulled it in front of him and reached up for the first trolley I put my hand on his shoulder to stop him. "I still think you should let me go first. I can probably blast the window out before I get there, which offers the best chance of the lead person not getting cut with glass!"

"Guess what word in that statement I don't like, Sweetheart," he said sweetly.

With I sigh, I guessed, "probably."

"Got it in one," he yelled while jumping off the roof.

"So much for code names only on the comms!" I called after him, smiling when I heard his chuckle in my earpiece.

Natasha went next, and then Bucky turned to me, "ready? Cap and Widow are already in there, and I'll be right behind you."

"There's no brake, so I just let go on the other side, right?"

"You've never done this before," Bucky commented. "Should have told us that."

"Too late now," I retorted before grabbing the handles and pushing off before he could say anything else.

From the grumbling and noise I heard behind me, I figured Bucky was right behind me but there wasn't time to comment on it before I was reaching the end. Much to my own surprise, I quite gracefully flew off and landed with a clean roll into a fighting stance.

"Looks like all that practice falling that you complained about paid off," Natasha hollered at me, smirk evident in her voice as she fought.

"Yeah, it's almost like you know what you're doing," I teased back as I engaged the first few HYDRA fighters that came at me.

The teams we had broken into each had at least one "weapon of mass destruction" as Clint referred to us, and I was ours.

So when I saw a ring of henchmen protecting someone I could just barely make out over the tops of their heads holding what looked like a very big, very dangerous weapon, I yelled out, "DOWN!"

Amazingly, my team dropped and no one else did, so when I lashed out with a waist level concussive blast, it took out the lot of HYDRA agents. My team stayed down for a couple seconds to be sure, and in that time I ran over to the large weapon I'd been concerned with. Unfortunately, my concern didn't go away in that moment.

"Get out of here," I yelled. "This thing's heating up!"

"Joule, you get out too," Steve started toward me only to have Bucky latch onto his arm and start manhandling him toward the doorway.

"It's fine, Cap, as long as I don't have to worry about the rest of you, but I can't let this thing blow. It could bring the building down on all of us!"

"Figures she doesn't listen to orders in the field either," Steve muttered as Bucky successfully pulled him the rest of the way out of the room we'd crashed into.

"She fits right in with your dumb, noble ass," Bucky told him.

"He's got you there, Cap," I heard Natasha say calmly as I pushed the rest of the team out of my mind, allowing the sounds of continued fighting and commands to focus on the object in front of me.

I had just finished putting a shield up around it when it blew. I focused carefully and waited just a few seconds to make sure it was done before dropping the shield. "Well, that was anticlimactic," I muttered. "I've seen much better explosions."

"Well, maybe you can get your ass out here and help then, Joule," Steve replied, and I could hear the strain of concern in his voice. I was reasonably sure he just wanted to see me and was not actually upset with me so I didn't sass back at him. Instead, I hustled my way outside, pausing in the door for just a second to watch Steve fight. Unlike when he sparred, Steve was clearly going full tilt and holding nothing back. Something about it was sexy as hell, and I wiped my chin to make sure I wasn't drooling before someone came at me from the side and I found myself locked in combat again.

The next man I started fighting was familiar.

"How's it going, Big Dog," I practically growled out. "You haven't had any luck in killing me yet, and let me assure you, it's only gotten more difficult to pull off since you last tried."

He didn't say anything, just took off running down the stairs, and I followed him down two flights before bursting into another floor of the building. Inside I found a bunch of black armor-covered men and glowing green goggles over their eyes. The effect was spooky- they all looked virtually the same and I wasn't even sure if one of them was Big Dog himself.

"You guys didn't tell me HYDRA had an evil knight zombie army," I said nervously into comms.

"Status, Joule?" Steve said urgently.

"Two floors down and pretty seriously fucked," I responded. Then to myself I murmured, "first major mission and you follow the bad guy into an obvious trap. Well played, Joule."

And then they were on me. As with other large swarms, I could knock them back with concussive blasts, but they just weren't staying down. Modifying on the fly, I started latching onto them one at a time to fight while continuously knocking the others back.

"Not to be the needy teammate here," I panted out. "But I think these guys might have shopped in the Captain America/Winter Soldier strength aisle on Black Friday or something."

"They've got super strength?" Clint asked.

"Close," I grunted out. "I'm doing okay, but I'm not going to be able to keep this up indefinitely."

I dispatched the one that I had been fighting, and when the next walked up, his hands burst into flames as he swung the first punch at me. "Uh oh, looks like this one is a fan of fish oil just like Ranger."

"You've got an Inhuman?" Steve asked urgently.

"Or something like one," I agreed. "Thankfully it's fire, and I'm really good with fire."'

The man paused hearing that, but it was too late. Acting on pure instinct I grabbed onto his hands then drew all the heat I could out of his body. When I finished, he dropped to the floor, but I was being attacked again before I could determine if he was dead or unconscious.

Moments later, Vision phased through the floor carrying Wanda. He set her down on the ground next to me, and we stood in a triangle with our backs to each other and started blasting away. It was a much easier group to subdue when I was only dealing with them a third of them at a time. Though when the blue blur of Pietro showed up, it did take a little more finesse to make sure I didn't hit him with any energy blasts.

"Almost to you, Joule," Thor said.

"Hold off and help the others," I instructed. "Pietro, Wanda, Vision, and I are having a little enhanced party in here. We've got it under control."

When we finally had everyone down, we walked around securing them just in case. As I passed each person, I ripped off his mask to see who it was and if I knew him. I was feeling sick even before I found Big Dog and Carl, though the definitive proof that each had betrayed me so effortlessly for so long.

I was standing on the edge of the room, my back to the windows, when they shattered behind me. Steve was just entering the room and I could see his eyes go bug eyed as he started to run even as something grabbed me around the waist and pulled.

"Rumlow's got Joule!" Steve called out.

"I don't have a shot," came Ram's voice. "They're moving too fast-"

I honestly didn't know what made me do it other than an undying hatred of the man I hadn't officially met yet on both Steve's and Bucky's behalf, but I acted. My hands had been clamped onto the arm around my waist, trying to pull it loose, but as soon as I realized it was Rumlow who had me captive, I stopped struggling and reached my hands up instead. I clamped them on either side of his head and ran my energy through them. Hard.

I was vaguely aware of something wet and sticky splattering all over me as I started falling. I held in a scream, but sighed with relief when I managed to stop my descent on my own. A moment later, I started plummeting again, and that time I did let out a small shriek before catching myself once more. Before I could start freefalling another time, Thor flew up and grabbed onto me. "What do you say we practice that another time when you aren't so high off the ground the fall would kill you? Not that I think you can't do it yourself, I just think perhaps this is safer."

"I'd very much prefer this way," I agreed with a relieved smile. "Thanks for the ride."

When he set me down again, it was inside the window I'd been pulled out of, and Steve was standing there waiting with his arms crossed on his chest.

"You done screwing around trying to fly?" he asked, sting taken off by the way his eyes were desperately running over me to make sure that I was unharmed.

"Sure," I said. "Need me to take out another small army while you dilly dally?"

"Dilly dally? How old are you? 97?" Steve asked, even as he gestured for me to follow him and took off running once more to the next round of fighting.

When we made it next to Bucky, he looked over at me, eyes widening at what I could only assume was blood covering me. With a casual shrug I said, "I don't think Rumlow will be a problem anymore."

"Sweetheart," Steve paused to take two HYDRA agents out by throwing an unconscious third at them hard. "In order for Rumlow to be a problem again, he'd have to reform from the pancake he no doubt is on the ground out there. And then he'd have to regrow the head you blew off of him."

"Yeah, well," I said. "It wasn't anything personal."

Steve snorted out a laugh and responded, "something tells me that isn't true."

Glancing over at Bucky, I was startled by the odd object in his hand, so I asked, "Bucky, what are you using as a weapon right now?"

"Found another reprogramming chair," he explained. "Thought I'd see how many of their goons I could use it to kill."

"Piece of a chair. Right," I muttered. "Something tells me you know at least ten ways to kill someone with a rock then."

"Dozens," he laughed out.

I heard a call go out over the comms for help from Natasha, and with a quick glance at Bucky and Steve, receiving a nod of acknowledgment from each, I took off to her location.

When I arrived, I saw her locked in battle with Grant Ward, but having to deal with five other guys who were trying to help and get the jump on her.

"Think you can take care of these other guys?" she asked me. "Ward's mine unless and until Skye shows up."

I didn't even bother responding, just used my powers to throw the closest to Natasha away and into one of the others, a move I'd thank Steve for demonstrating later, even if he used brute force to do it himself. Once I finished my men, I turned my attention back to Natasha who had beaten Ward to within less than an inch of his life. Then she'd trussed him up, and at the moment was sitting on him, taking non-lethal swipes at him with a knife for fun.

"Jesus, what'd he do to you?" I asked her, torn between being horrified and amused.

"He called me eye candy," she retorted, watching his face carefully and smirking when he paled at that. "Don't know why he didn't think that'd get back to me."

"Ah, well then," I mused. "He's a moron as well as evil. I'll leave him in your capable hands and check on the others. Then I'll see if they need any help with crowd control outside."

The wave Natasha gave me could only be considered cheerful, and I queried FRIDAY on everyone else's status as I exited into the stairwell once more. With pretty much everyone at a stable place and the base secure, I moved onto my secondary assignment of the night- press distraction. Though I hadn't been enthusiastic about the prospect, the team had voted that I would be first in line as the press was absolutely enthralled with me at the moment.

When I stepped outside, I looked around and nodded at the various Merry Men I could see providing perimeter security and made my way over to the group of reporters.

"Joule!" they were all shouting as I approached.

Finally reaching them, I stood there silently, figuring I could kill two birds with one stone. In this case, I was wasting time, and also getting them to shut up once they realized I wouldn't say anything until they stopped shouting at me. It was definitely win-win.

"Hello," I started with the short statement Darcy had written and FRIDAY was displaying on my goggles for me. "First of all, I want to thank you for your cooperation in staying outside of the safety perimeter. As you can see, the Avengers have completed a mission here tonight. The City of Trenton has been my home almost my entire life, and it will always hold a special place in my heart for that reason. I do not believe there are many citizens of this city, however, who would deny that it has long been the home of more than its fair share of crime and corruption.

"A number of weeks ago, it was brought to the Avengers attention that at least part of this was caused by HYDRA's presence in Trenton. It was during the early part of their investigation into the matter that I became acquainted with the team and offered to lend them my assistance. Through the course of our investigation, we discovered that HYDRA had infiltrated not just the Trenton Police Department, but various other government and official offices. Tonight we have raided their base of operations-"

I trailed off getting hit with a sudden overwhelming warning of danger intuition and was able to shift out of the way enough to keep the sniper from hitting me anywhere too vital. Thinking of Steve, I managed to hold in the curse and simply grunt in pain as I took the slug in the shoulder. I followed it up with a sigh and paused for a moment, waiting for confirmation from the team that the sniper was down.

"Shit Joule," Ram cursed through the radio. "Are you okay? I got him, but he got his shot off first."

"I could use some help from medical, but I'll be fine," I confirmed. Then I simply turned back to the reporters who had scattered and reassured them that we were all clear before continuing my statement while applying pressure on the wound.

"As I was saying, tonight we raided HYDRA's base of operations in Trenton. A number of their operatives were captured, and we will use information gathered here, as well as from questioning those agents, to make sure that we quickly and efficiently smoke all of HYDRA out of Trenton. Do you have any questions at this time?"

I was beginning to feel a little woozy, but remained steadfast as I looked around at the reporters. Feeling Steve come up behind me, I sighed in relief when he took up a position that allowed me to lean into him a little and have him take my weight without being obvious to the cameras around us. His hands came up and took over applying pressure, so I pointed to one of the reporters who had a hand raised.

"One of our news helicopters caught some very dramatic footage of you midair outside of the building. Do you care to comment on your apparent ability to fly?"

"Well," I said slowly. "As I've had it explained to me, I don't fly in the traditional sense. I more convert my kinetic energy into gravitational potential energy, as I'm sure you can understand. Also, as I think your video will verify, I'm not great at it yet, but I'm working on it. It's handy either way."

There were nervous chuckles in the group at that, and I was pleased to see that the casual dropping of the science-y words that Stark had tossed at me before seemed to stop any further questions for the moment, as the reporters didn't appear to want to admit to not knowing what that meant.

"Next question," I instructed, pointing at one of the local reporters I recognized as the man who had given me my previously hated nickname, Bombshell Bounty Hunter.

"What do you say to critics who say that you've fabricated this whole thing and this is merely an attempt at revenge on Joseph Morelli, decorated cop."

I took a deep breath, and when I felt Steve stiffen behind me, rushed to respond before him. "As I'm sure you are aware, Joseph Morelli is no longer a decorated cop at the Trenton Police Department. He was suspended a time ago, and subsequent investigation revealed his involvement with the mob. In addition, he recently, and very publicly, assaulted me then admitted to having shot me."

"At this time Mr. Morelli is back at the Avengers facility awaiting transfer to the FBI who will be placing him under arrest for his crimes," Steve cut in. "The evidence that brought on this official Avengers operation will be made public in the coming months as those we have arrested, and those we have yet to arrest, begin being brought to justice in the courts."

Nodding my head in agreement, I pointed at the next reporter, a woman who asked, "would you like to comment on your relationship-"

"Ma'am," Steve cut her off quickly and forcefully. "We are taking the time to answer your questions in the middle of an active crime scene and investigation out of courtesy and respect for the public's right to know. Let's keep the questions to the scope of what you see happening around you."

I answered a few more questions with Steve offering only occasional comments before he leaned down and whispered in my ear. "Coulson's going to take over. I'm not happy with the amount of blood you're losing and I think I see someone in the crowd who can help us. You can introduce him by his title."

I gave a slight nod of my head, as I finished the comment I was currently making. When Phil stepped up next to me, I said, "that's all from the Avengers for tonight, thank you for your time. At this time, I'd like to introduce you to Phil Coulson, the director of New SHIELD."

Phil smiled and shook my hand, nodding at Steve who was still trying to apply pressure. Of course, the mention of a New SHIELD who had up until that moment been unknown to the world provided ample distraction for the media and Steve and I slipped away. Just before we made it out of earshot, I heard Coulson start by saying, "No, the Avengers are no longer a part of SHIELD, however, as there is a lot of overlap, we have a healthy working relationship with ample opportunity for consulting between our teams."

I looked behind me at Steve who was clearly still trying to provide cover and said, "I thought they didn't want to go public yet."

"They didn't," Steve agreed. "But when Phil realized you'd been shot and needed an out that would allow you to save face, he volunteered. Personally, I wasn't too happy with SHIELD operating so much in the shadows if they were going to revive it, so I didn't argue against it. Besides, he likes feeling like he helped us."

I heard Steve call out to Woody to let someone through the crowd, and by the time we reached the jet, Daniel was standing there waiting.

"You're going to try to do it yourself," he instructed me. "I'm only here just in case."

I heard Steve and Wanda discussing how Wanda had informed Daniel to come by, but I blocked out the mild argument and instead focused within on my wound. Of course, as soon as I focused on it, the wound really hurt, so I paused, grabbed the trashcan Wanda floated over to me and vomited into it before I resumed my meditation.

In response, Daniel only said, "stop the blood flow first, please. It nicked an artery; you're lucky you had a super soldier applying pressure and your own increased rate of healing to vital wounds."

I stuck my tongue out at him but did as he instructed, barely registering his praise when I completed that crucial first step in a reasonable amount of time. At some point, I heard more voices, and eventually Bucky interrupted me long enough to fasten me into a seat belt with Daniel across from me. We took off, and I didn't even realize how much time had passed before I opened my eyes once more. Daniel was meditating on his own, floating above the ground in a cross-legged pose, so I cleared my throat to get his attention. After he walked over to me, I could feel Daniel's energy flow within me for a few moments before he stepped back and nodded happily.

"There is much I can still teach you, and you need to get faster and better at healing yourself while doing other things like fighting. However, you have learned quickly already," he praised.

I looked around for Steve, so I could brag about my progress, and was surprised to notice the three spies all sitting around me.

"Wait, if CliTasCky is back here with me, who is flying the plane?"

I heard a giggle that could only be Darcy, and smiled at her nodding happily as she asked, "did you give them a celebrity 'ship name?"

"Yeah, that's how I refer to the spy collective in my mind."

I turned back to the three in question and they just shrugged before saying, "Steve's flying."

"Oh," I paused to think about that. "Did anyone check to see if he knows where he's going because we should be home by now right?"

"We're not going home!" Steve called back to me. "And I heard that!"

I leaned into Bucky and whispered, "where _are_ we going? Don't we have more work to do?"

Bucky just shrugged at me, so I sighed and unbuckled, moving toward the cockpit.


	38. Vegas

**Chapter 38 - Vegas**

 _ **Steph's POV**_

When I reached the cockpit, I settled into the empty co-pilot seat next to Steve, buckled in, and drew my feet comfortably up onto the seat.

"What's going on? I figured we'd be working all night back at base, combing through data, and generally trying to make sure we had gotten them all."

"We never get them all," Steve said. I would have been worried about that statement, except his tone didn't sound depressed. Instead he sounded as though he was just being realistic. I was reassured in that assessment when he continued with, "but we dealt them a very large blow today. We may have actually completely crippled them this time. I'm not aware of anyone who isn't absolutely confirmed dead who is anywhere near the skill level of Rumlow or Ward. And yes, there is a lot of work to do to wrap everything up, but it can wait until tomorrow. I think we've earned a night of celebration. Revels, as Thor often calls them."

"So you hijacked the team jet and didn't tell anyone where we were going?"

"Oh, they all know, I just asked them not to tell you before I did."

"Huh," I said beginning to build up a whole head of mad.

Before I could let Steve have it though, he said, "remember that question I asked you earlier today?"

"I seem to remember you not asking me a question," I shot back at him.

Steve chuckled deeply next to me, and I sighed at the way the sound always made me melt. When Steve met my gaze with his own, he had a knowing expression on his face, but he didn't comment. Instead he tilted his head to gesture back out the windshield, and when I turned to look, he asked, "Stephanie Plum, will you marry me?" right as the lights of Las Vegas lit up the sky in front of the jet.

I couldn't help it, I laughed and then looked over and said, "well, since we're already here, might as well, right?"

"Might as well." Steve agreed. After a few seconds of comfortable silence he said, "I used to call myself the world's leading authority on waiting too long. And when I decided I wanted an actual life and to be happy, I promised myself I wouldn't make the same mistake again. But Steph, if this is too soon, we don't have to do it."

"I, Stephanie Plum, will happily take you, Steven Rogers, as my lawfully wedded husband," I said slowly. "As soon as you land this jet. Where are you going to land this jet?"

"Stark owns a casino," Steve said. "Under some other name, but, regardless, he owns it and he's cleared us to land on top. He's also set up an appointment for us at the chapel. All we have to do is let him be there."

"You'd have let him be there anyway," I told him.

"You know that, and I know that. I think Stark maybe even knows that. But he's doing something nice for us by giving us a place to get married, and he hates admitting that he does nice things, so we're pretending that it's a trade."

I snorted and looked over at Steve, fully expecting him to be joking. When I saw that he wasn't though, I realized that kind of fit what little I knew of Tony already, so I just nodded my head in understanding.

I waited patiently sitting in my seat as Steve landed the jet and went through the post-flight routine. When he was done, he stood and then knelt in front of me so he could examine my shoulder injury. It wasn't something he'd told me he wanted to do, but I'd easily been able to guess he would. So I had left my jacket off and my skin bare to him after Daniel had examined it earlier.

Steve pressed a gentle kiss to the spot, and I told him, "I did it all myself!"

"I heard," Steve grinned up at me. "Good job."

He stood and helped me to my feet, and we walked over to the lockers together. Steve handed me a bottle of antiseptic and some gauze before moving to undo and fix my hair. Once I'd wiped all the blood off that I could easily reach, I pulled on a fresh uniform shirt and jacket, and grabbed Steve's hand in mine as we walked over to where the rest of the team was waiting.

Without saying anything, Steve jammed his fist into the button to lower the ramp, and we waited in a silence broken by Darcy telling me, "this is like public relations and social media heaven. you're already trending and now we get to add a wedding on top of it."

"What do you mean, I'm trending?" I asked her.

Reading off her tablet, Darcy replied, "there's news articles and then people reacting to them. For example, 'while giving a statement to press outside of a successful mission today, the newest Avenger, Joule dodged a lethal sniper's bullet, taking it in the shoulder instead of the chest. She then calmly asked her team for medical assistance and continued to speak to the press while applying pressure to her wound. The action seems to have put an immediate end to harsh criticism and speculation about how she became an Avenger and the involvement of her relationship with Captain America in that decision.' My two favorite hashtags right now are #JouleIsBadAss and #IWantToBeJouleWhenIGrowUp."

"That second one sounds adorable," I conceded.

"That's what I thought at first. I figured it would be full of cute little kids saying that or something, and there is some of that. But it's even more fun than that because celebrities are in on it as well. And there's video of the whole thing, Steph, and it's gone viral. Which, I mean gross, but… it also manages to be addictively fun, especially since I know you're okay. People are overlaying it with all kinds of music."

Clint was giggling over his phone, and when I raised my brow he said, "I just made one."

"What song did you use?" Natasha asked with a laugh.

" _Damn It Feels Good to Be A Gangsta_ ," he crowed, accepting Darcy's fist pump.

"I picked _Titanium_ ," Natasha told him. "I mean, come on, ' _shoot me down, but I won't fall, I am titanium_.' It's perfect."

That, of course, caused a raucous debate to be started up as we exited the jet about what the best song was, and I just slipped my arm around Steve's waist, taking in the moment. As I ran my hand over the material on the side of his uniform, I said pensively, "I'm more than happy to do this in my uniform, so long as you're okay with the fact that everyone is going to know that we got married within the hour, probably. We'll be recognized."

In response, Steve pressed a kiss to my head and murmured, "works for me. But maybe you should call your dad and grandma first so that they don't hear through the news?"

Nodding, I stayed leaning into him but pulled out my phone and dialed grandma's cell phone.

"Hey Baby Girl!" she answered enthusiastically. "You doing alright? I saw you get shot live on the news!"

"I'm fine, Grandma. It looked worse than it was," I fibbed, feeling Steve poke me in the side. "Well, actually, it was pretty bad, but I'm going to be just fine. I'm actually in Vegas right now-"

"Are you going to get one of them shotgun weddings to that handsome man of yours?" she asked excitedly.

"Well, no one is threatening him with a shotgun, and I'm not _expecting_. So I wouldn't call it a 'shotgun wedding', but yes, we are getting married," I told her. "Eloping."

"Ain't that a pip! You know, Stephanie. After the disaster that was Dickie, and then the entire thing with Morelli, I didn't think I'd live to see the day where you were happily married. I've never been so happy to be wrong. You tell that boy to take care of you, and make sure he gives you the good lovin' all the time, but tonight especially."

"Yes, ma'am!" Steve called out, smirking at me when Grandma giggled in response.

I rushed her off the line and then had a similar, though much less awkward, conversation with my father. Never a man for many words, he did manage to tell me he was glad I was alright (apparently he switched from the sports game to the news when the ticker at the bottom mentioned an Avengers mission, so he'd seen me get shot as well) and he was happy for Steve and me.

By the time I ended my second phone call, Steve was guiding me into a chapel where Tony and Pepper were waiting for us, the latter looking like she was about to burst out of her skin with happiness. As soon as she saw us, she rushed me with a small bouquet of blue and white flowers and handed them to me then crushed them against me with a hug.

"Congratulations!" she whispered.

From behind me Steve said, "thanks for letting us use your casino, Tony."

Tony waved it off and said, "happy to, though I honestly was hoping you were going to be using it for something much more interesting than a wedding. Are you sure you don't want bachelor and bachelorette parties before you do this? Seems like an awful waste of an excuse to do questionable things in Sin City."

Thinking back to my first bachelorette party, I hastily declined the offer, but looked back at Steve and said, "you can have one if you want though."

"What I want is to be married to you," he told me. "I don't need some crazy party to celebrate the end of my single status or whatever the reason is behind those."

I couldn't resist, I leaned up and gave him a kiss, ignoring the heckles from our teammates as I did. Turning back to the front, I noticed an officiant (thankfully not dressed as Elvis) waiting discretely at the front. Holding onto Steve a little tighter, I started walking to the front, deciding to forgo all fanfare of walking down separately.

Instead of taking seats, the team crowded around us, and the officiant looked about to protest until I noticed a faint red glow drifting from Wanda into the man. I snickered a little, but didn't say anything as he started talking. It was short and sweet, and about two minutes later we were pronounced husband and wife. A chapel employee was waiting in the back with paperwork for us to sign that Tony and Pepper had already filled out for us. Steve chose Bucky as his and I chose Wanda as my official witness.

Much to my surprise, when we finished all the technicalities up, Natasha and Bucky proceeded to ask if there was time for another wedding. When the chapel employees agreed, and Bucky told Steve, "can't let you beat me down the aisle when I've been with Natasha for longer, and this way we can help each other remember our anniversary."

"I already did beat you, Jerk," Steve teased. "It'll be by at least ten if not twenty minutes by the time you get finished up."

"Punk," Bucky retorted.

Natasha and I exchanged a look that clearly pitied the male gender before the process was quickly repeated for Bucky and Natasha. When they finished, Tony turned to the rest of the group and asked, "anyone else?"

Clint looked down at Darcy, and she just reached up, slapped her hand over his mouth, and shouted, "NOPE!" Thankfully, Clint looked amused more than hurt at the gesture, and wrapped an arm around her waist before the two took the lead out of the chapel. We wandered downstairs and, at Pepper and Tony's insistence, stopped at the restaurant for a celebratory dinner in their fine dining restaurant.

No sooner had we stepped up to the hostess's station than the restaurant fell completely silent. There was an awkward pause before a man in a table near the entrance started clapping, and slowly the rest of the restaurant joined in. Steve let out a barely audible sigh then tightened his hand that was resting on my hip and we quickly walked around offering our thanks and autographs to people who asked for them. It took about half an hour, but it was worth it because when we sat down, Tony and Pepper had the table laden with food and we were left alone for the duration of dinner.

"Are you sure we can't put you lot up in suites here for the night?" Pepper asked us as the meal was winding down.

"There's still a lot of work to do making sure too many HYDRA rats don't scatter into the cracks," Steve told them.

"You can't honestly tell me you're going to work on your wedding night," Tony sounded completely appalled.

"I didn't say that," Steve said, hand tightening on my thigh. "But it would be easier to already be at the base tomorrow morning when we wake up."

Thinking of the bed debacle and the fact that I was sure even Tony's casino didn't have a reinforced bed, I quickly agreed. "It'll be nice to be at home tonight."

Tony opened his mouth as though he was about to protest, but the rest of the team made sounds of agreements and Pepper elbowed him in the side so he decided not to say anything more. Instead he nodded his head and started leading the way back to the private elevators that would take our group back to the roof.

Tony's silence didn't last long after the doors shut, and he began offering Steve wedding night advice.

"Believe me, Steve doesn't need any advice about pleasing me," I thought, only to flush bright red when the looks I received clearly told me I hadn't kept that thought inside my head.

Approaching the plane, Natasha stole me away from Steve and hustled me into the pilot's seat. Then she plopped down next to me, "you need more hours" was her only explanation.

I was startled and tense for the first few minutes of the flight, trying to decide what I had done to piss Natasha off.

"Relax," she finally said sounding exasperated. "You've done nothing wrong. But even if neither of our guys needs any advice on keeping us satisfied in the sack, they've got issues, and I figured that they could use a few minutes to talk things out. Not to mention you looked like you're the most alert out of all of us. Damn you and your energy absorption."

Laughing I reached a hand out to touch her on the arm, transferring a bit of energy over before Natasha gently smacked my hand away. "Keep your hands on the controls, Plum." I grinned over at her, and she made a show of rolling her eyes like I often did and added, "and your eyes ahead. I know what'll make you pay attention…"

She trailed off and reached over and smacked the jet into super sonic mode and I felt my eyes widen, afraid to so much as blink as FRIDAY took over.

"Just breathe," Natasha said. "It's not so bad."

I'd actually never been up in the front where I could see outside when we were flying at those speeds and I whispered, "it's so pretty."

Natasha snorted out a laugh and said, "it is. Plus that means we get home sooner and have more time to spend with our new husband before yours invariably drags us all out of bed way too early tomorrow morning."

"What's it worth to you if he doesn't?" I asked.

"I'm sure I can think of something," she replied. "But I don't know if you can do it."

"Challenge: accepted," I told her focusing back on the flight as FRIDAY shifted us into regular speed for our approach to base.

As soon as I cut the engines, everyone else bailed and I felt Steve settle behind me, hands on my shoulders rubbing as I ran through all the final checks on the jet. By the time I got to the last one, he was nibbling at my neck and whispered in my ear, "you know I could hear you talking to Natasha, right?"

"I suspected you might be able to," I told him as I stood and pulled him into me. His mouth met mine for a deep kiss that ratcheted my desire up another notch. "Do you have a problem with it?"

"With you tiring me out so much with sex that I don't wake up first thing in the morning? No," Steve gave me a grin and reached down to hook his hands under the back of my thighs and lift me up into him. "I wasn't planning to go to sleep anytime soon anyway. Though I have to point out, sex with you often results in me being energized and not needing sleep!"

When we reached our room, I put a hand behind me and pushed open the door. He carried me through the doorway then set me on my feet gently so we could start ripping each other's uniform off quickly. I pulled away slightly and looked down at myself when Steve had me mostly naked and winced at the dried blood that was trailing down my body from where I'd been shot and hadn't been able to reach with clothes earlier.

"Definitely need a shower first," I blurted out, with Steve easily agreeing. We started kissing again, and I had to be grateful for his coordination. If it was left for me to navigate, I was sure we would have had an unmitigated disaster on our hands before we made it through the tangle of clothes on the ground and into our bathroom.

Once inside the shower, I quickly grabbed my shower gel and loofa and immediately started scrubbing. At first, when Steve's hands waded into the mix, I thought he was going to help. But when they shifted down to my waist, I realized that cleanliness wasn't really his top priority. One of his hands slowly started toying with my clit, so I redoubled my efforts.

"Steve," I shuddered out, unable to find the words to ask him for what I wanted because I didn't know what it was. I just wanted more.

When I finished with the soap, I leaned forward and reached for the shampoo. Steve took advantage of the position to slide a finger easily inside me. I gasped and rested my head against the wall momentarily until Steve leaned over me and ordered, "hair."

Knowing he was right, I held my wits about me long enough to open the shampoo and dump it in my hand. Steve worked a second finger in with the first, and when I leaned forward suddenly his other hand came up to catch the suds before they got in my eyes. Laughing, he pulled his fingers out of me and then grabbed his own body wash from the wall.

"Tease," I spat out petulantly.

"Hey, can't have you blinding yourself," he argued. "Now focus, the sooner you finish up, the sooner I can take you out to our bed and make you glad you married me."

I was already glad I married him, but hey, if he felt the need to prove his prowess, who was I to argue? Taking advantage of the head start I'd gotten on cleaning up, I quickly rinsed out the shampoo then grabbed my conditioner and put that in as well. Without it I'd look scary in the morning.

I latched onto Steve's erection as I rinsed off the final time, causing his movements to stutter momentarily. When I let go he made a sound of protest, and I just raised my eyebrow to tell him that turnabout was fair play. Steve bowed his head in acknowledgment then gently steered me toward the exit to start drying off as he began rinsing off.

I had barely grabbed my towel when he was pressing up behind me reaching for his own. We did a haphazard job of drying off before Steve picked me up, threw me over his shoulder and raced out to the bedroom. He dropped me down onto the bed with a thunk and I couldn't help the stupid grin on my face as I looked up at him.

Thankfully he had a similar look on his own as he pulled me to the edge of the bed he was standing next to. Without preamble, he slid slowly into me and I closed my eyes briefly to savor the moment. The combination of the emotion of knowing this was the man I'd pledged to spend the rest of my life with and the need to verify that we were both okay after the day's mission sent me over the edge embarrassingly quickly.

Steve didn't seem to mind though, just slowed his pace. He leaned down and kissed me at the same, almost drugged speed until I recovered and found myself interested in the action once more. When he realized I was on board, he stood back up and started up a fast pace once more. It wasn't until his hand moved down and started rubbing at me that I orgasmed again.

We went a few more rounds, and I wasn't even aware of falling asleep until I caught myself waking up an unknown stretch of time later with Steve's hands spanning my hips. He'd slid a couple pillows under my hips and had his legs on the outside of mine, waiting for me to wake up and let him know it was okay. I groaned and looked back at him then nodded.

"Oh, crap, Steve," I hissed out.

"It's still morning," he told me. "I thought you were going to keep me occupied…"

I simply nodded my head once more before lowering it back down to the mattress so he could cover me from behind. Every time he pressed forward, he'd press on my g-spot and he was moving so slowly and deliberately that it was driving me crazy. He kept at that pace for what felt like forever until I was shaking with need. Taking a deep breath, I started shoving myself back at him hard with every thrust, satisfied with the almost feral grunt he gave me in response.

After that things started moving more quickly and when he realized he wasn't hurting me, Steve's thrusts picked up both speed and intensity. When I orgasmed, I was aware of him driving even more strongly into me, but completely missed any other indicators there may have been of impending disaster. At the same moment, Steve's cry of pleasure was mixed in with a crashing noise, and then our angle changed abruptly causing him to push into me deeper. Hard. It send me tumbling even harder over the edge before I'd even finished, and I closed my eyes as I caught my breath.

"Steve," I finally gasped out.

"Yeah, Sweetheart?"

"Did we just break your reinforced bed?"

"I think you mean our reinforced bed, and yes, we did." Steve didn't seem inclined to move either, so we cuddled in the awkward position we found ourselves in for a few more minutes once he'd instructed FRIDAY under no uncertain terms to not allow anyone else in and to tell them we were fine if they heard the noise.

Finally I started snickering, then it turned into a full on belly laugh that had Steve pulling back from me carefully, then dragging me across the destruction to lay on top of him on a clear patch of floor.

"I can't decide," I gasped out. "If that is embarrassing or impressive."

"Tony swore there was nothing I could do that would break that," Steve said. "So I'd say impressive. Though in my defence, I don't think that was just super strength. You were glowing a little right before."

"Huh," I managed to say, not really sure how to react. "Hadn't lost control of my powers like that in a while."

"Well, we only get one wedding night, right?"

I nodded with my head on his chest then propped my chin on my hands and looked up at him. "How did I get so lucky as to meet and get to marry you?"

"I think I'm the lucky one," Steve insisted. "But I knew I would fall head over heels for you the second you agreed to help me without really knowing anything about me."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Steve, you're Captain America. Of course I'd help you. I don't understand why that's such a hard concept for you."

I felt his big shoulders shrug under me as he replied, "I still think I'm that kid from Brooklyn a lot of the time; sometimes I'm surprised when I look in the mirror and see this body."

"I'm in heaven every time I see that body," I reassured him. "And no offense to Skinny Steve, but there's no way he could have broken that bed with me."

"You are right about that," Steve said. Then palming my ass he stood and said, "what do you say we get cleaned up and then head out so that someone can come in and replace this bed for us? Plus, I had a text from Ranger asking us to be in the cafeteria at noon, which is in about ten minutes."

We were back in the bathroom at that point, but the morning's shower was quick and no nonsense. Ten minutes later my hair was in a nice clean ponytail and I was dressed in my uniform boots, pants, and the thin shirt I wore under my uniform top as Steve told me odds were good we'd have to head back to Trenton at some point that day. I watched in the mirror as Steve braided my hair and said, "that's quite the set of hickies you left there."

"Mmmmm," Steve hummed in response as he concentrated on tying off the end of the braid. "Seems to me you could just heal them if you didn't want them there."

I turned my head and smiled over my shoulder at him saying, "true." Then looking at the ceiling I asked, "FRIDAY, does the world know we're married?"

"I have located at least one story for each major news organization on your marriage. Would you like me to read them to you?" FRIDAY quickly supplied.

"No, thank you," I hastily told the AI. To Steve I said, "seems like Captain America can have given his wife some hickies on her wedding night."

"Well in that case," he agreed before burying his head in my neck. When he pulled back, he said, "That one was looking a little light."

Examining it in the mirror I mock scolded, "there wasn't even one there before!"

"I know; it was an oversight," Steve grinned at me before grabbing my hand and tugging me toward the door to the hallway.

As we walked into the common living room, I noticed that only Natasha and Bucky were there. Knowing no one else was going to overhear and learn of the bargain I'd made with her, I looked at my watch and asked Natasha, "that late enough? What do I get?"

Natasha laughed and said, "yep. As I understand it, we're behind schedule now and Steve doesn't look like he even cares. Well done. For your prize, Bucky and I promise not to tell everyone what we heard come out of your room twenty five minutes ago."

Shaking my head, I said, "nope, the bed is a lost cause, which means workers are going to have to come in and replace it, and people are going to find out. That doesn't count."

We reached the cafeteria doors, but before Steve could open them, Natasha smacked her hand on it and turned to me, "how about I make sure Grandma Mazur never finds out."

I was pretty sure the pallor on Steve's face was reflected on mine as I eagerly nodded in agreement.

The "Baby Girl!" that was yelled out as soon as I entered the cafeteria made it abundantly clear why that was immediately relevant.

Grandma Mazur rushed me for a hug and as soon as she pulled away, my father wrapped me in a hug of his own. "Congratulations, Steph," he whispered in my ear before letting me go.

"Aunt Steph, Aunt Steph!" I heard as I felt Valerie's two oldest girls rush into me and wrap their arms around me.

"Hey, girls," I said. "What are you doing here? Don't you have school?"

"We have the day off so that the teachers can make our report cards," Angie told me. "Grandpa told Valerie he'd watch us since she had to work, then he told us he'd take us on a fun field trip if we promised not to tell mom or Grandma!"

I looked over at my father and he shrugged and said, "Ranger called to say he could bring us into see you if we wanted to wish you congratulations on the wedding. And he thought the girls might like to meet his daughter."

I blinked in surprise, then looked over where a larger group was waiting patiently and saw her. "No way that's Julie!" I called out, watching as a grin split her face. I turned to her completely and opened my arms, laughing when she studied me for a moment with a look that was purely Ranger before deciding I wasn't kidding, turning into a kid again, and running into my hug.

When I pulled back, I wrapped my arms around all three girls, and turned to Steve. "Steve, these are my nieces Mary Alice and Angie, and this is Ranger's daughter Julie. Girls, this is my husband, Steve Rogers."

Steve knelt down on the ground next to us and solemnly shook each girl's hand before breaking into a smile and telling them how happy he was to finally meet them.

Of course, Mary Alice completely floored me and ruined the moment by saying, "so your baby will be due in nine months then?"

I made a high pitched squeaking noise as I said, "what? no! Why would you even think? No!"

"Your Aunt Steph and I aren't quite ready for kids of our own yet," Steve said calmly. "We've got lots of bad guys to catch first. Why did you think that?"

Ever the willing snitch, Angie said, "Mr. Lester told us you were late because you were putting a baby in Aunt Steph."

I made another choked noise before turning and yelling out, "Santos!"

He jumped and looked at me, saw how angry I was, and tried to run. Of course, I reached out with my energy and wrapped him up in a force field so snug he couldn't so much wiggle his arms or his legs.

"Mats," I told him. "I don't care if you don't work for us, you're supposed to be my friend! So mats just as soon as I get some of that wedding cake!"

 _ **The End**_

 **A/N:** So that's where I'm going to leave this one, but make sure you're subscribed to me because I plan to pick it up for a full-length sequel a few months (or a couple stories, whichever is longer) down the line! Now, if you'd like to leave a review/comment, you can vote on which will be the next medium-long story pairing: Steph/Bucky or Steph/Thor! I have outlines for both, but probably won't post until I have a significant buffer of chapters ready to publish or the story completely written. And, finally, as always, a huge shoutout and thanks to my beta!


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